Thus is one of my favourite go to books if I have been in a reading slump or I have been reading heavy texts. It is a light and amusing book. This is the story of Helene Hanff and the wonderful relationship she built up between herself and Frank an employee of  Messrs Marks and Co, sellers of rare and secondhand books, at 84 Charing Cross Road, London.

There is something almost innocent in the writing, which comprises of a series of letters between Helene and Frank spanning the years following post World War II.

In fact I am going to cheat slightly and say that all the books written by Helene are lovely and have that same genuine innocence about them. My second favourite of Helene’s book is Apple of my Eye which is set in New York and has some wonderful descriptive elements of parts of New York, including the Twin Towers.