Told in epistolary form, the book was never expected to be a big hit – Hanff herself accepted that it would be “ a cult book“. She made a little income writing educational books for children, but this was, as she put it, “ a very good way to starve to death”Ĩ4 Charing Cross Road, the story of Hanff’s transatlantic pen pal friendship with an antiquarian bookseller at that London address was her unexpected hit, giving hope to all undiscovered writers past their first flush of youth. For several years, she made a decent living writing scripts for the TV detective show The Adventures of Ellery Queen, until it headed to Hollywood. She wrote books and magazine articles, the majority of which generated nothing but rejection letters. She spent twenty years penning plays, many of which landed on the desks of agents and producers, but none of which made it to the stage. Since her teens she had laboured to find a market for her talents as an author. The writer Helene Hanff was in her mid-fifties when she finally experienced success with the publication of her book 84 Charing Cross Road, fifty years ago, in 1970. “ 84 Charing Cross Road, the story of Hanff’s transatlantic pen pal friendship with an antiquarian bookseller was her unexpected hit, giving hope to all undiscovered writers past their first flush of youth… Later adapted for TV, stage and a very handsome film, the success of this one book, has overshadowed other books by Helene Hanff, similarly based on her life experiences.” ❉ An appreciation of the literary career of the ’84 Charing Cross Road’ writer.
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