The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street
Jul 2016 · HarperCollins
4.6star
5 reviewsreport
Ebook
157
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About this ebook
The author of 84, Charing Cross Road chronicles her dream-come-true trip to London and its literary landmarks: “A charmer.” —The New York Times
When she’s invited to London for the English publication of her wildly successful book, 84, Charing Cross Road—in which she shares two decades of correspondence with Frank Doel, a British bookseller who became a dear friend—New York writer Helene Hanff is thrilled to realize a lifelong dream. The trip will be bittersweet, because she can’t help wishing Frank was still alive, but she’s determined to capture every moment of the journey—and this delightful Nancy Mitford–meets–Nora Ephron diary is the result.
Helene’s time in London exceeds her wildest expectations. She visits Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle; explores Shakespeare’s favorite pub, Dickens’s house, and the Oxford University courtyard where John Donne used to wander; and makes new friends from all walks of life who take her to the theater, introduce her to institutions like Harrod’s, and share their favorite corners of countryside.
A love letter to England and its literary heritage, written by a Manhattanite who isn’t afraid to speak her mind (or tell a British barman how to make a real American martini), The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is an endearing account of two wildly different worlds colliding; it’s an outsider’s witty, vibrant portrait of idiosyncratic British culture at its best, as well as a profound commentary about the written word’s power to sustain us, transport us, and unite us.
Includes a new introduction by Plum Sykes
When she’s invited to London for the English publication of her wildly successful book, 84, Charing Cross Road—in which she shares two decades of correspondence with Frank Doel, a British bookseller who became a dear friend—New York writer Helene Hanff is thrilled to realize a lifelong dream. The trip will be bittersweet, because she can’t help wishing Frank was still alive, but she’s determined to capture every moment of the journey—and this delightful Nancy Mitford–meets–Nora Ephron diary is the result.
Helene’s time in London exceeds her wildest expectations. She visits Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle; explores Shakespeare’s favorite pub, Dickens’s house, and the Oxford University courtyard where John Donne used to wander; and makes new friends from all walks of life who take her to the theater, introduce her to institutions like Harrod’s, and share their favorite corners of countryside.
A love letter to England and its literary heritage, written by a Manhattanite who isn’t afraid to speak her mind (or tell a British barman how to make a real American martini), The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is an endearing account of two wildly different worlds colliding; it’s an outsider’s witty, vibrant portrait of idiosyncratic British culture at its best, as well as a profound commentary about the written word’s power to sustain us, transport us, and unite us.
Includes a new introduction by Plum Sykes
Ratings and reviews
4.6
5 reviews
Susan Whitmore
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September 12, 2023
I wish I'd known Helene Hanff! We would've been kindred spirits. Both Anglophiles through and through, and both bibliophiles. Wonderful writer! Terrific woman!
Joan McEachern
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November 1, 2016
A delight from Start to finis.
Laurie Haynes
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November 16, 2024
original London experience.
About the author
Born in Philadelphia in 1916, Helene Hanffspent much of her life as a struggling screenwriter in New York City. But it was her 1970 memoir, 84, Charing Cross Road, that propelled her to fame and made possible the trip to London that inspired The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. She never married, and died in New York in 1997.
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