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84 Charing Cross Road
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, John Nettles
- Length: 2 hrs and 11 mins
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Summary
Critic reviews
"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)
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What listeners say about 84 Charing Cross Road
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 03-06-07
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.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Fliss
- 14-06-11
An utter joy!
I laughed out loud and then wept on the train - and that's saying something.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Lingwelli
- 01-11-09
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.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Alison St Pierre
- 08-09-13
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!
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- A. Wolff
- 21-08-08
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.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Fiona
- 20-11-10
lovely listen
Really enjoyed this book - lovely true story - great book to listen to at bedtime.
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4 people found this helpful
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- 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.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Lisy_Lou_86
- 13-02-22
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.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Donna
- 02-11-17
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!
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2 people found this helpful
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- John Bedder
- 28-08-17
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.
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2 people found this helpful