THE DUCHESS OF BLOOMSBURY STREET

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

After a recent viewing of the film 84 Charing Cross Road, starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins, I realized I had never read Hanff's follow-up book, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. The first book, upon which the film was based, is comprised of the letters Hanff exchanged with book dealer Frank Doel over a twenty year period as she arranged to have volumes sent from England to her home in Manhattan. The film begins and ends with a brief glimpse of Hanff flying to London and walking into the bookshop three years after Doel's death and the closure of the store. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is the diary Hanff kept of that visit, which occurred in 1971.

Her trip was occasioned by the British publication of 84 Charing Cross Road. Her publisher asked her to visit Britain to do a book tour to help build up publicity for the volume and Hanff, who had been wanting to visit London her entire life was finally able to make the dream come true. Hanff's depiction of herself is of a homebody who dislikes going into the outer buroughs of New York, let alone to a foreign continent alone, but she needn't fear. In addition to her publisher's staff, she has a ready network of friends, acquaintances, and fans who are more than happy to help her fill her time and see London, in some cases, impeding on Hanff's introverted nature. The book is less a travelogue, although she does talk about the places she visits, but more a look at her interactions with the people from Doel's widow and daughter to Leo Marks, son of the bookstore owner, to the Colonel, a retired publisher who worked at the airport who offered to help her upon her arrival.

Throughout the book, Hanff revels in, and is amazed by, the modicum of celebrity she has achieved, dubbing herself "The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street" in honor of the location of her hotel and the attention she receives from staff, friends, and fans. In the film, Hanff says, "A newspaper man I know who was stationed in London during the war says that tourists go to England with preconceived notions, so they always find exactly what they are looking for," and she certainly does. She sees London as she expects to see it. She initially describes those things which aren't part of her view of the city as "anachronisms," but comes to realize they aren't. London is a living city that embraces its history and traditions, layering the new on the old. She doesn't need to like the BBC's Broadcasting House, describing it as "obese" and a "monstrosity," but it is as much a part of London as St Paul's or Claridge's.

In many ways, Hanff has blinders on. She notes that she is an autodidact, having taught herself what she needs to know in order to read the essays of Arthur Quiller-Couch, but things outside her areas of interest remain foreign to her. When the Colonel mentions Hampden and the English Civil War, Hanff notes that she doesn't know who he was, and seems to have no interest in learning about him, commenting on her lack of knowledge later in the book. She notes that one of her most frustrating days was an outing to Oxford, where her hosts showed her what they thought she would be interested in rather than what she hoped to see. Hanff seems happiest in London when she can simply walk through its streets and parks along, absorbing the vibes of the city.

While Hanff's visit to London should feel triumphal, and she clearly felt like she was being pampered and treated like royalty throughout her stay, often relying on the kindness of strangers and acquaintances, there is a sadness about her description of London. Hanff exhibits the strange New Yorker's provinciality throughout her visit, loving the city, but still comparing it to her own Manhattan and limiting her openness to new experiences even as she enjoys the foreignness of the city. She is constantly being feted by friends and fans, even telling her publisher to share her contact information indiscriminately, yet her favorite moments are when she is sitting alone in a park or walking through the streets of London. Many of the people she describes are painted with broad strokes without revealing much about who they are. For all she is visiting London, the focus on the novel is on the titular Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, Helene Hanff.

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