It is such a sweet story. And made all the more special by the fact that these are real letters, this is a correspondence that actually took place. What fascinating people, with such a love for books, I absolutely LOVED it.

What a charming book! I loved how the relationship grew between book reader and seller and grew to encompass other people. I too would have loved to see them meet. It was also interesting to read about the rationing after the war. Did anyone besides me notice packages only took a week to 10 days to get there?

I feel like an idiot for not realizing that it was the author's actual letters until the epilogue though lol It was interesting to watch the friendship form between Frank and Helene, and other members of both Frank's family and the employees in the bookstore. Although I'm more interested in if Helene ever met the rest of the family or ever visited the bookstore than in the letters themselves. The bond between Frank and Helene was interesting, but overall the book was pretty dry.

Put far too simply, this is a collection of letters between an American lady of fabulous wit and sarcasm and a few people of Marks & Co., a British bookstore on 84, Charing Cross Road. The letters suck you right in - what Helen says, one cannot help but read, and the wonderfully phrased return letters from (mostly) Frank Doel always made me chuckle in a "Gosh, I remember living in England," way. This is a correspondance that covers two decades, and though I often felt like some of the letters were missing (there are replies to questions you never see asked), it was a delight to read this. It's rare I enjoy a nonfiction book that isn't on one of the narrow topics I enjoy, and biographical correspondance isn't normally something I pay attention to. Still, this is fabulous, and I suggest you go grab a copy, a cuppa, and just enjoy!