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The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street
The success of 84, Charing Cross Road enabled New Yorker Helene Hanff to finally travel to London; this is her memoir about that visit. Upon arrival Hanff encamps at the Hotel Kenilworth on Bloomsbury Street and is treated so graciously by her London hosts she dubs herself "Duchess." While in London she meets the family of the bookseller with whom she shared a lengthy correspondence (as captured in 84), visits historical sites, makes loads of friends, dines and lunches and walks in the gardens, and generally has a ball. This was exactly the right book at the right time.
About the Book
Publisher’s description:
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 Road—in which she shares two decades of correspondence with Frank Doel, a British bookseller who became a dear friend—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 heritage—and a celebration of the written word’s power to sustain us, transport us, and unite us.
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