Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
84 Charing Cross Road cover art

84 Charing Cross Road

By: Helene Hanff
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, John Nettles
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Barbara Pym: A BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
Someone at a Distance cover art
So Late in the Day cover art
A Lesson in Love cover art
Dolly Parton, Songteller cover art
The Incredible Winston Browne cover art
Jane Eyre cover art
Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes cover art
The Unquiet Bones cover art
The Way I Heard It cover art
Jacob T. Marley cover art
AMORALMAN cover art
A Christmas Carol cover art
The Covenant of Water cover art
Thank You for Listening cover art
Signal Moon cover art

Summary

Told in a series of letters, this true story of the correspondence between a New York writer and a London bookseller has touched the hearts of thousands.
©1970 Helene Hanff (P)2007 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"The twenty year correspondence between bookseller Frank Doel, who worked at Marks & Co, specialists in rare and second-hand books, and Helene Hanff, an impoverished New York writer with an irresistible urge to buy books, made joyous reading when it first appeared in 1970 and this unabridged recording of 84 Charing Cross Road makes pleasant listening." ( The Express)
"Human kindness is wonderfully to the fore in this little classic of autobiography, and the combined readings of Juliet Stevenson and John Nettles characterise the writers exquisitely." ( The Times)
"One of the subtlest, sharpest, most moving relationships ever formed between pen pals. I can't imagine it without Stevenson and Nettles. Her warmth, his reticence, their shared love of old books - onionskin pages, leather-bound and gold-embossed, with flyleaf dedications circa 1847 and pencilled notes in the margin - made me weep."( The Guardian)

What listeners say about 84 Charing Cross Road

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    298
  • 4 Stars
    64
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    257
  • 4 Stars
    37
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    247
  • 4 Stars
    43
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Truth Stranger than Fiction

A story told entirely in letters charting the relationship between two people who never meet. It is a cliche, but 84 Charing Cross Road is heartwarming, tender, funny and tragic. The relationship that develops between Helene Hanff (a spiky, impoverished New York writer) and Frank Doel (a conventional, formal English bookseller) is told through their correspondence as HH tries to obtain rare and obscure titles from the eponynous bookshop. That it is a true story told through the actual correspondence between the two makes it tremendously affecting.

The story is beautifully read by Juliet Stevenson and John Nettles - brilliant casting - and the whole unabridged reading lasts barely 2 hours which just goes to show that the best things really do come in small packages.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

An utter joy!

I laughed out loud and then wept on the train - and that's saying something.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Love by mail

What a wonderful story. It was like waiting on the doorstep for the next letter to arrive. You could almost imagine rows and rows of books in a tiny shop. It was a love story yet, it wasn't. It was a lovely story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Quintessentially English and bursting with charm.

I really enjoyed this book! The description of London around the war time period and the incredibly English characters are a joy to imagine. I could see the bookshop and smell the books. This book gave a real insight into rationing and the joy of exchanging letters, (a dying art). Totally recommended!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Short but Sweet

This is such a lovely book and a great recording. Only a couple of hours long but it is still worth downloading. This accompanied me on a long run and I was smiling through most of it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

lovely listen

Really enjoyed this book - lovely true story - great book to listen to at bedtime.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • xx
  • 18-10-20

The book that has convinced me of the merits of audiobooks

I was initially put off by the short length of this, making the mistake of trying to extract the best value from audible credits by looking for the longest books. However, I saw this recommended somewhere and it seemed such a left field choice, not being a new book, star narrator, or the much publicised big ticket books, such as the complete Sherlock Holmes, that I thought I’d try it. I’ve had the headphones in since.

Utterly amazing. Perfect understated narration of the unfolding friendship between the author and her correspondent, an unassuming book shop employee.

The correspondence spans a period of around 20 years, from the years after WW2, when rationing was still in place in England, to the late ‘60s, and the world seems to move on around Helene and Frank, as she seeks out good quality second hand books, but only ever in the background. It is completely mesmerising.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it!

The true life correspondence between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in New York, and Frank Doel, a secondhand bookseller working for Marks & Co in London. Helene started writing letters to secondhand bookshop Marks & Co (at 84 Charing Cross Road) in 1949 to request books that she couldn’t find in New York. And what followed was 20 years of a beautiful friendship between two very different people who shared a mutual love of books.

This was absolutely delightful! I really loved Helene, she was sassy, bold, sometimes a little bit rude, and straight to the point. Frank would always reply to her letters very formally and politely, which really added to its charm. These two very different people start this unlikely friendship having never met each other, and separated by an ocean, through their love of books. It’s really a love letter to books. After a while, the employees at Marks & Co come to look forward to Helene’s letters, and they also start to write to her as well. I really enjoyed hearing all of their correspondences, and I could really relate to their love of literature. I couldn’t wait to hear what Helene had to say next, and then what Frank’s reply would be, he always managed to be polite even when she was being very demanding. I really loved the narrators too, Juliet Stevenson was able to deliver the sassiness of Helene’s letters, as well as some of the other more formal employees, and Frank’s Irish wife Nora. John Nettles (narrator of UK TV series Airport) has a very soothing voice, which was perfect for someone who’s very formal and polite.

I really don’t think that there was anything that I didn’t like about this book. I just loved everything about it, and I even had a little cry at the end.

I would definitely recommend this to everyone who loves books, nonfiction love stories (about books), reading real life letters to and from two very different people, and epistolary stories.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Such a sweet book

A wonderful, intimate glimpse into the lives of just a few people from London to New York. Makes you wonder about all the amazing stories of lives led that are untold. Delightful relationships fill your heart with warmth, reminding you of the joy in kindness & friendships. A moment in time is captured, taking you back to what is was like in yester year. Makes you want to begin letter writing straight away & to seek out some classic books to lose yourself in. Also leaves you with a sense of Carpe Dium. Such a sweet book - loved it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful, but...

This is a book I have read many times, it is on my personal top 10 and was often recommended by me when I worked as a bookseller. This audio version is wonderfully read, with a clear love of the text. My only criticism is that the audio doesn't contain the full epilogue which details Helene's eventual trip to England and the story of how the book came about. Still a wonderful book, which I heartily recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful