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Biography & Autobiography. Literary Criticism. Travel. Nonfiction. HTML: Nancy Mitford meets Nora Ephron in the pages of The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, Helene Hanff's delightful travelogue about her "bucket list" trip to London When devoted Anglophile Helene Hanff is invited to London for the English publication of 84, Charing Cross Roadâ??in which she shares two decades of correspondence with Frank Doel, a British bookseller who became a dear friendâ??she can hardly believe her luck. Frank is no longer alive, but his widow and daughter, along with enthusiastic British fans from all walks of life, embrace Helene as an honored guest. Eager hosts, including a famous actress and a retired colonel, sweep her up in a whirlwind of plays and dinners, trips to Harrod's, and wild jaunts to their favorite corners of the countryside. A New Yorker who isn't afraid to speak her mind, Helene Hanff delivers an outsider's funny yet fabulous portrait of idiosyncratic Britain at its best. And whether she is walking across the Oxford University courtyard where John Donne used to tread, visiting Windsor Castle, or telling a British barman how to make a real American martini, Helene always wears her heart on her sleeve. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is not only a witty account of two different worlds colliding but also a love letter to England and its literary heritageâ??and a celebration of the written word's power to sustain us, transport us, and unite… (more)
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In a direct sequel to 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff finally gets on a plane across the Atlantic and sees the London of her dreams. While there is a certain bittersweet feeling as Important Things have
The tone is a little different as this is written in diary entries rather than in epistolatory form, and the text does lose something being in one voice, although a sassy and amusing voice. Hanff relishes London - Russell Sq, the Tower of London, St Paul's, Claridge's, and even fits in a few trips to Windsor, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon and Stoke Poges.
Her tone is as sweetly comic as in 84 CC Rd and seeing 1970s London through this Anglophile's eyes has tempted me to rush around following in her footsteps when I get home to London.
"It always aggravates me, when I'm writing to some telephone-company supervisor or insurance man, to have to begin with 'Dear Sir' when he and I both know nobody on earth is less dear to me."
"Somewhere along the way I came upon a mews with a small sign on the entrance gate address to the passing world. The sign orders flatly:
COMMIT NO NUISANCE
The more you stare at that, the more territory it covers. From dirtying the streets to housebreaking to invading Viet Nam, that covers all the territory there is."
"I am so tired of being told what a terrible place New York is to live in by people who don't live there."
To be read directly after 84 Charing Cross Road. Ideally (as in my case), the two slim books should be in the same volume.
On the other hand. The secondary characters (which I'll define as: everyone but Helene Hanff and those few individuals from the first book, mostly relatives of Frank Doel) are quite fun, and there are scads of anglicisms, my favourite of which: "Somewhere along the way I came upon a mews with a small sign on the entrance gate addressed to the passing world. The sign orders flatly: COMMIT NO NUISANCE. The more you stare at that, the more territory it covers."
Is that (or was that ever) a typical English or even British phrase? Love it.
I'll look for the third book in the series, but without quite as much haste as I'd imagined after reading the first. I will say I still envy Hanff her ready, in-depth knowledge of British literature and history. I haven't that level of familiarity with anything, not even my biography.
In 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff collected the letters she and Frank Doel, a bookseller in London’s famous Charing Cross Road, exchanged for twenty years, from just after WWII up until his death. Helene Hanff had always wanted to travel to England, but until the summer of June 1971, after 84 Charing Cross Road had been published and she went on tour to publicize the book, she had never had the opportunity to do so. This short book is a diary that Helene kept for the three weeks that she was in London and environs, meeting Frank Doel’s family and some of the many people who enjoyed 84, Charing Cross Road.
I went on vacation to London (and York) for a week at the beginning of the month, so I thought this would be the perfect book to get me in the mood for the trip. It’s a short book; I finished it in a couple of hours on the plane ride. Helene Hanff went everywhere and did everything, it seems: Bloomsbury (personally, my favorite part of London), the site of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (which hadn’t yet been reconstructed by Sam Wannamaker), Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London. Some of those were places I went, too, so it was fun for me to read about what she saw and did. Helene even got so see some of the sights outside London: Eton and Oxford (only Helene could have a hissy fit in the middle of Wadham Yard!).
The same funny, witty tone of voice she used in 84, Charing Cross Road comes right across in this novel, and I enjoyed reading some of her insights into England and the English (some of them ironic, as in):
I find the treatment of royalty distinctly peculiar. The royal family lives in palaces heavily screened from prying eyes by fences, grounds, gates, guards, all designed to ensure the family absolute privacy. And every newspaper in London carried headlines announcing PRINCESS ANNE HAS OVARIAN CYST REMOVED. I mean you’re a young girl reared in heavily guarded seclusion and every beer drinker in every pub knows the pricese state of your ovaries (p. 77-78).
I must admit that I have a soft spot for Helene Hanff; we both have a Philadelphia connection, plus we are/were massive Anglophiles. I love the blunt, direct way that she addresses her readers, almost as if she’s telling her story to you in person. She also has some great insights into London: how you can tell a city’s character based on its parks:
All the parks here are every serene, very gentle… lying in peaceful St. James’s, I realize how much a city’s parks reflect the character of its people. The parks here are tranquil, quiet, a bit reserved, and I love them. But on a long-term basis I would sorely miss the noisy exuberance of Central Park (pp54-56).
In this
“All my life I’ve wanted to see London. I used to go to English movies just to look at streets with houses like those. Staring at the screen in a dark theatre, I wanted to walk down those streets so badly it gnawed at me like hunger. Sometimes, at home in the evening, reading a casual description of London, I’d put the book down suddenly, engulfed by a wave of longing that was like homesickness. I wanted to see London the way old people want to see home before they die. I used to tell myself this was natural in a writer and booklover born to the language of Shakespeare.”
I felt the need to visit London from a young age. I just always knew that one day I would go. When I was 19 I planned my first trip to Europe, hopped on a plane by myself and met a friend in London. During that trip I visited Bath, Windsor and London, and then traveled to Ireland and explored Dublin and some coastal towns. It was absolutely everything I imagined it would be. Seeing poets corner in Westminster Abbey, Twelfth Night performed at the Globe, dinner in a pub, etc. I loved everything about it. Later I moved there for a few months to do a semester abroad and my love of London grew ten-fold.
Hanff’s experience was similar to my own (except she was a bit of a celebrity because of her first book). She was in awe of everything see saw and all she wished for was more time. She made friends along the way, pinching every penny so she could spend just one more day in her beloved city.
BOTTOM LINE: I loved it so much! If you’re an anglophile or you loved 84, Charing Cross Road don’t miss this one!
“I seem to be living in a state of deep hypnosis, every time I mail a postcard home I could use Euphoria for a return address.”
p.s. Hanff wanted to personalize every book she signed and at one point she has to sign a stack of books for a bookseller to take to his shop and she said…
“I still couldn’t bring myself just to write my name and let it go at that, it seems unfriendly. Wrote “To an unknown booklover” in every copy.”
I wish so badly that I could get a signed copy of this book!
This volume was amusing in many parts -- the conversations she had with those she met in London were amusing. I also enjoyed comparing her notes to my memories of my week-long visit to London in 2001, thirty years after her stay there. She did get to see much more because she was there longer, and this only makes me want to go back again to revisit and also to see some of the spots Helene saw but I didn't.
After Hanff's book is published, she finally gets a chance to go to England, something she has longed to do her entire life and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is her journal of that trip.
my review: This was a short but delightful read, much like it's predecessor. Hanff holds nothing back and tries to experience England to it's fullest in the short-time she will be there. She finally meets Frank's family face to face and many of her fans and pen pals. This book also reads like a guide for a true anglophile on a trip to Britain and is a nice follow-up for those that read 84, Charing Cross Road.
Both stories are charming and delightful, cleansing your reading palate between larger, more complex reads.
my rating 4/5
It is amazing the memories a book can conjure up. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is the perfect read for anyone who loves 84, Charing Cross Road, is a book lover, and anglophile or just loves to armchair travel.
Favorite Quote: "Got so carried away by my own eloquence that when we were driving home I began to wonder whether in explaining the American affection for Gray, I stumbled on a clue to the English passion for Dickens. They may admire Shakespeare more but it's Dickens they love. Maybe the average Englishman, being neither king nor peasant, identifies less with the kings and peasants of Shakespeare than with the lower and middle-class upward-mobility types in Dickens."
Food for thought, indeed.
The book is a diary of meals eaten and sites seen in London and elsewhere, including the Cotswolds and Oxford. It has little to sustain it other than an interest in Hanff but I could not maintain even that and skipped through the last third or more.
Two things did emerge. First, the generosity of people in opening their homes and their lives to a stranger based on their appreciation of her book. Second, remembrance of the days or air travel when onerous and paranoid security did not blight the experience....Hanff's arrival in, and departure from, London were from a world long gone.
Not a book I would recommend. Enjoy 84, Charing Cross Road if you haven't read it and leave it at that. I liked Hanff's book 84, Charing Cross Road very much. It was charming and personal in its description of a 20-year postal love affair from Hanff in New York with a bookseller, Frank, in London. They never met because Frank died but in 1971 Hanff travelled to London, a city she always wanted to visit. She spent time with Frank's wife and daughter and a host of other people from friends of friends who loved her book, to perfect strangers who heard she was in town and wanted to entertain her, to the obligatory book signings.
The book is a diary of meals eaten and sites seen in London and elsewhere, including the Cotswolds and Oxford. It has little to sustain it other than an interest in Hanff but I could not maintain even that and skipped through the last third or more.
Two things did emerge. First, the generosity of people in opening their homes and their lives to a stranger based on their appreciation of her book. Second, remembrance of the days or air travel when onerous and paranoid security did not blight the experience....Hanff's arrival in, and departure from, London were from a world long gone.
Not a book I would recommend. Enjoy 84, Charing Cross Road if you haven't read it and leave it at that.
I loved how enthusiastic she was about seeing the literary landmarks she had so long dreamed about. I loved her reactions to differences and how she managed to “go with the flow” - particularly loved her exchange with the front desk when she wanted her dress pressed and her first experience ordering a “martini” (Hubby and I shared quite a laugh over that episode). Just makes me wish I had known Hanff in person and had the chance to travel with her … no matter where. I think we would have found something to captivate and enthrall us.
Definitely read 84 CCR first, but you’ll want to read this one as well … especially if you’re planning a trip to London.
An enjoyable book, I actually enjoyed this one more than 84, Charing Cross.
This book concerns Hanff's first visit to London after 84, Charing Cross Road was published. Her English publisher wanted her to come over to help publicize the British launch of the book. Hanff who had always wanted to visit London jumped at the chance even though it involved spending some of her own money and quite a bit of her time. From the moment she arrived at the airport she was feted and coddled which gave rise to her calling herself The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. She even had her portrait painted by Elena Gaussen-Marks who was married to the son of one of the owners of 84 Charing Cross Road. I couldn't find that picture online but I did find this one by the same artist also of Hanff in Central Park.