And the six books which she published provide an almost ongoing autobiography. Being a lover of what she once described as 'I was there' books, she is at her best when writing about her own experiences. Other books followed, including The Apple of My Eye (1978), a quirky look at New York, and Q's Legacy (1985) - about the work of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, whose essays found in a library first ignited her passionate love of English literature - and still the letters kept arriving from all over the world.Īs a writer Helene Hanff is no Jane Austen or George Eliot. Soon she was giving regular monthly talks for Woman's Hour on BBC entitled 'Letter From New York'.

This, and subsequent visits, led to her writing a sequel, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (1976). It was the book's publication in England by Andre Deutsch which brought her to England for the first time, only to find that Marks & Co had closed. Until then, in spite of the book's success, she never made a penny because, as she described on the Dick Cavett celebrity television show, every reader of the book wrote her a fan letter which she would then answer, and she had worked out that the cost of the aerogram equalled the amount of the royalties on each copy of the paperback edition. But it was not until the stage version that Helene Hanff began to make any real money, enough to ensure her at least a reasonable comfort in her old age which was much troubled by pneumonia and bronchial infections (exacerbated no doubt by her excessive smoking), as well as diabetes. Since then the play has been performed all over the world. Later it was made into a movie starring Ann Bancroft. Then, in 1980, I acquired the stage rights and adapted the book as a play for the stage, directing it first in the West End and, the following year, on Broadway.

Hanff told me how the nuns of Stanbrook Abbey near Worcester, an enclosed order of Benedictines, had a single borrowed copy which was placed in a glass case, and a small American nun was elected to turn one page a day so that the whole community could read it together. I didn't want to wait till spring when the roads clear and we can get into town to the post office.' It became one of those books that people passed on, or gave to each other. One such call was from a woman in Alaska and when Hanff commented: 'This must be costing you a fortune,' back came the unexpected reply, 'I'm married to an Eskimo and we live 300 miles from the nearest town. Soon letters, gifts, and telephone calls poured in from all over the country.

Helene hanff books