Duchess of Bloomsbury Street

<p><strong>A charmer. Will beguile an hour of your time and put you in touch with mankind. --<em>New York Times</em></strong></p><p><strong>Newly reissued with an introduction by Plum Sykes this cult favorite is a delightful diary--think Nancy Mitford</strong>-<strong>meets</strong>-<strong>Nora Ephron--chronicling author Helene Hanff's bucket list trip to London (at the age of fifty-five!) after the unexpected success of her memoir <em>84 Charing Cross Road.</em></strong> </p><p>When she's invited to London for the English publication of her wildly successful book <em>84 Charing Cross Road</em>--in which she shares two decades of correspondence with Frank Doel a British bookseller who became a dear friend--New York writer Helene Hanff is thrilled to realize a lifelong dream. The trip will be bittersweet because she can't help wishing Frank was still alive but she's determined to capture every moment of the journey.</p><p>Helene's time in London exceeds her wildest expectations. She visits landmarks like Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle; explores Shakespeare's favorite pub Dickens's house and the Oxford University courtyard where John Donne used to walk; and makes a host of new friends from all walks of life who take her to the theater introduce her to institutions like Harrod's and share with her their favorite corners of countryside.</p><p>A love letter to England and its literary heritage written by a Manhattanite who isn't afraid to speak her mind (or tell a British barman how to make a real American martini) <em>The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street </em>is an endearing account of two wildly different worlds colliding; it's an outsider's witty vibrant portrait of idiosyncratic British culture at its best as well as a profound commentary about the written word's power to sustain us transport us and unite us.</p>