Vicky was a Viking, one as brave as brave could be. On land she was a legend, but she didn't like the sea. Boats made Vicky queasy and the waves made her feel yuck. She'd rather not go sailing but ... [+]
Susan Lendroth has written children's picture books as well as essays and articles. She works for Los Angeles Public Library, a dream job for any booklover. "To An Unknown Booklover" is in Short Circuit #14, Short Édition's quarterly review.
I don't remember which I encountered first: Helene Hanff's book, 84 Charing Cross Road, or the Anne Bancroft / Anthony Hopkins movie of the same name. All I know is that decades later the title's blend of London, letters, and books still enchants me.
Published 50 years ago, 84 Charing Cross Road is a romance of the mail—a collection of letters between Helene, a feisty New York writer, and Frank Doel, the unfailingly polite manager of an antiquarian London bookshop. Individually, those letters speak of books and the correspondents' day-to-day lives. Collectively, they weave together a meetin