84, Charing Cross Road. Helene Hanff

Abstract

Fourteen years ago, Luis, one of the booksellers at the General Humanities Library of the CSIC, where I worked at the time, gave me a small book of barely 120 pages for Christmas. It was 84, Charing Cross Road, a correspondence that began in the period after World War II and continued for 20 years (1949-69) between Helene Hanff, a writer with little success, and her bookseller, Frank Doel. At that time, I could not imagine how those characters and those letters would remain stuck in the hem of my readings. Nor could I then recognise the value that Luis, my bookseller, gave to that gift. Today, when I recall that memory, a smile of gratitude comes over me.