My rating:

add to my books

Q's Legacy

by Helene Hanff

3.91 · rating details · 344 ratings · 52 reviews

Here is the remarkable story of how Helene Hanff came to write 84, Charing Cross Road, and of all the things its success has brought her. Hanff recalls her serendipitous discovery of a volume of lectures by a Cambridge don, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. She devoured Q’s book, and, wanting to read all the books he recommended, began to order them from a small store in London,...more

Paperback, 192 pages

Published August 5th 1986 by Penguin (autobiography) (first published 1985)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

Best Unappreciated Books

272nd out of 922 books — 1,354 voters

This Book Is Overdue! by Marilyn Johnson

A Gentle Madness by Nicholas A. Basbanes

A Splendor of Letters by Nicholas A. Basbanes

The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World by Jacques Bosser

Books about books and libraries

67th out of 210 books — 14 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 560)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Oct 12, 2009

Donna rated it

Recommends it for: fans of "84"

Recommended to Donna by: citizen reader blog

Shelves: biography-memoir

Well, I'm glad I pursued this second sequel to "84 Charing Cross Road", but I think this one came up a bit short. Perhaps everyone just so much loved the "voice" of Helene that they kept asking her to write...and she had only one 'great' book in her. This story is again more of the "how I came to write '84'" stuff. There are, of course, a few really great quips and memories that make the book worth reading and, again, I'd love to be one of her friends seeing New ...more

· see review

Aug 16, 2011

Khairul H. rated it

Shelves: biography-novelists-playwrights

This is the final part in the unofficial 84, Charing Cross Road 'trilogy'. While 84 introduced us to Helene Hanff and her overseas correspondence with Frank Doel of Marks & Co., and Duchess of Bloomsbury Street takes us along on Ms. Hanff's journey as a mini celeb to London as she gets to meet Doel's family and other fans, Q's Legacy is about why she had to order books from London in the first place and the subsequent fame that that simple correspondence triggered. In this book, she once again t...more

· see review

Aug 24, 2010

Wallace rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, memoir

Type: {Impress Your Friends Read: noteable; prize-winner of all around intelligent crowd conversation piece)
Rating:{I’m Lovin’ It: Very Entertaining!}

Why You’re Reading It:

You adore Helene Hanff and wish you could have met her (oh wait, that’s me)
You like intelligent, funny women who were ahead of their time
Glimpses into New York when it was all about writers and the theater are your bag
Interesting, short non-fiction entertains you
You’re smar...moreType: {Impress Your Friends Read: noteable; prize-winner of all around intelligent crowd conversation piece)
Rating:{I’m Lovin’ It: Very Entertaining!}

Why You’re Reading It:

You adore Helene Hanff and wish you could have met her (oh wait, that’s me)
You like intelligent, funny women who were ahead of their time
Glimpses into New York when it was all about writers and the theater are your bag
Interesting, short non-fiction entertains you
You’re smart
What I Thought:

I might always regret that I discovered Helene Hanff after she died. I had a good seventeen years on this Earth with her, and I couldn’t have found her then? Oh how I wish I had. I would have looked her up and visited, or written her a letter. She was the old-school type of writer who actually welcomed that sort of thing.

What a treat that she left behind: Q’s Legacy, her autodidactic story of educating herself through literature after she was only able to complete one year of college because of funding. What an inspiration to read her story as she tells the readers how she struggled through a New York that no longer exists, but catered to scraping writers and the theater industry in a way that we aren’t familiar with anymore. When the circles of artists were smaller and you didn’t have to already be famous to become somebody.

She takes us with her to London as she watches her cult classic 84, Charing Cross Road become the stuff of legends. And back again to New York where the Broadway version flopped, much to her relief…

Being a celebrity for a week in London had been the most fun I’d ever had in my life, and wonderful for the ego – but only because I’d known I was coming home at the end of it, homem to the quiet, orderly, solitary, unglamorous life I was made for. To be forced to live a celebrity’s life at home, even for a little while, had been a nightmarish possibility. It was gone in the morning, like any other nightmare.

Quotes like this and the 20 or so other,s that I have marked with stickies in the library copy of the book I read, are why I find Hanff such a role model. Her work was not about becoming famous. And it was not about being a wife or mother, nor did she go the route of the beatniks, who were coming up in her era. She was somewhere in between these two extremes of the 1950′s, in a world of her own making that would prove to be ahead of her time. I have to admire this woman who would be in her 90′s today, who led a life that resembled more of a man’s life in that period that did enable women to do so. It is incredibly refreshing to read her work.

Perhaps some of you will feel the same way. If you, like me, wish you could catch glimpse of the era when being a writer and playwright in New York was more posh than being a hollywood fashionista… you will love the opportunity that Hanff has given us in Q’s Legacy.(less)

like 1 like

· see review

Sep 05, 2011

Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) rated it

Shelves: bios

Helene Hanff holds a special place in the heart of book lovers for her love affair with the Marks and Co bookstore at 84 Charing Cross Road which she chronicled in the book of the same name. That slim volume is possibly one of the most popular books about books ever written. So popular there was even a movie adaptation with Anthony Hopkins. You bring Anthony Hopkins in and you know it will be a classic. In the book she passingly mentions getting her education through a man she nicknames "Q....moreHelene Hanff holds a special place in the heart of book lovers for her love affair with the Marks and Co bookstore at 84 Charing Cross Road which she chronicled in the book of the same name. That slim volume is possibly one of the most popular books about books ever written. So popular there was even a movie adaptation with Anthony Hopkins. You bring Anthony Hopkins in and you know it will be a classic. In the book she passingly mentions getting her education through a man she nicknames "Q." Q is known to others as the Cambridge professor, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, and doesn't have anything to do with James Bond. I wondered a bit about how a poor girl from Philly was educated by this elusive Q. Well, lucky for us 84, Charing Cross Road was only one of a few autobiographies Helene wrote. Q's Legacy starts with that first day she realized that she couldn't afford college anymore and found his books on a shelf at the public library. She instantly found a kinship with this man an ocean away and knew that he would teach her all she ever wanted to learn. Through him she became a writer, after a failed attempt at acting and play writing.

Helene was always living hand to mouth, writing whatever she could to make a buck. When 84, Charing Cross Road unexpectedly became a huge hit she didn't know what to do with herself. She wasn't such a celebrity that she couldn't answer her own fan mail, but still, it opened doors she never thought would open. While she doesn't repeat herself with ground covered in 84, Charing Cross Road or her triumphant trip to London as a result of the book which she documented in the sublime sequel, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, she adds so many more stories that where possible because of her book. Helene talks about the joy of going to England to see her book become a movie for the BBC and how she got to go to television center and watch her life come alive. She also recounts her trip to England for the opening of the stage adaptation that was a hit in England and a bomb in America. But it's not just the trips, it's the characters that people her life, the way she sees the world. Every time she said that she had a book that she hated writing so badly and chucked it down the incinerator my heart skipped a beat. If only the world had more of her books not less! She was too harsh a critique and because of that we are left with only a few slim volumes of a writer who has the most distinct and original voice I've ever read. So go out a buy this book before it becomes out of print, like so many of her wonderful books ironically are.

I'll leave off with recounting an interesting story of how I found out our lives intersect. On August 13th, 1978, she finally got to pay her regards to Q. She was invited by the widow of his biographer to come to Cambridge while she was there for the opening of the play and to visit Q's study. It was still as it always had been, preserved in memoriam. This was the day where she walked where her mentor walked. The whole book, perhaps her whole life had been building to afternoon tea in Q's study. Half a world away I was born. I say that makes August the 13th 1978 a rather significant date for the two of us.(less)

· see review

Jun 19, 2009

Kim rated it

These are pretty much Helene Hanff's memoirs. She tells about how she struggled to make a career as a writer for years and years until she finally found a hit with 84, Charing Cross Road. (This struggle and her autodidacticism reminded me very much of Jack London's Martin Eden.) She continues to tell about how she came to write The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (which itself is a book about her book 84, Charing Cross Road) and then how 84, Charing Cross Road was turned into a film and then a p...more

· see review

Jan 14, 2012

Yvann S rated it

“I was shocked just the same, at sitting in his chair with his favourite hat in my hands. There was a kind of violation in being so familiar with his ghost.”

In Helene Hanff’s third volume (after 84 Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street), she returns to the start of her career, in which she decided to teach herself writing, picked up a volume by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (the titular “Q”) and found so many references to books that she simply had to have, that she struck...more“I was shocked just the same, at sitting in his chair with his favourite hat in my hands. There was a kind of violation in being so familiar with his ghost.”

In Helene Hanff’s third volume (after 84 Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street), she returns to the start of her career, in which she decided to teach herself writing, picked up a volume by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (the titular “Q”) and found so many references to books that she simply had to have, that she struck up a correspondence with a famous London bookshop. She takes us right through Q’s legacy, i.e. her writing success, through the events of 84, then the fame it brought her, leading to the events of The Duchess, and subsequent trips to London for adaptations of 84 for the TV (by the BBC, who else) and the stage.

This slender memoir is really two books hopelessly entangled. On the one hand there is a sweetly told story of being a struggling writer in New York in the 1940s to 60s

“I couldn’t return Harper’s $1,500, having flung it all away recklessly on food and rent.”

which has charm and character and a strong sense of the time at hand which reminded me of Rules of Civility. Why shouldn’t she evoke the 50s if she lived through them, I hear you grumble at your screen. Well, Q’s Legacy was written in 1985 by which stage Ms Hanff was nearly 70. Maybe I don’t sufficiently appreciate the strength of memory.

Anyway, the other half of the book is a fairly irritating, smug recollection of what happened after 84 Charing Cross Road, all the fan mail and visits to England and watching the various adaptations of her work, and it made me quite annoyed.

“I was gratefully aware that Rosemary was reading my letters with extraordinary warmth, wit and comprehension. But I’d read those letters in Hugh Whitemore’s TV script and heard them read over and over every day for ten long days of rehearsal; I’d had to read them again, in scripts submitted for my approval by amateur theatre groups from Massachusetts to Hong Kong; I’d had to read James’ script before it opened in Salisbury and again after he’d made changes in it for London. Now, at the Opening Night in London when I most wanted to relive the correspondence for my own personal reasons, I was finally sick to death of it.”

I think it’s best to stick just with the original 84. There is a charm and innocence to it which is not replicated in its sequels.(less)

· see review

May 31, 2011

Antof9 rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-read, about-books, americana, biographies-memoirs, charming, for-realz, funny, liberry, nonfiction, travel, made-me-cry

I loved the dedication to Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch - "Not to pay a debt but to acknowledge it." And I loved her connection to, and the parts about, "Q", as he was called by his students. But this is no "84", and once you get past the parts specifically about Q, it loses a bit of steam. It is, however, interesting to read about how "84" came about, how it was loved (or not), and how her royalties on the book compared to the cost of a stamp for the thank ...moreI loved the dedication to Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch - "Not to pay a debt but to acknowledge it." And I loved her connection to, and the parts about, "Q", as he was called by his students. But this is no "84", and once you get past the parts specifically about Q, it loses a bit of steam. It is, however, interesting to read about how "84" came about, how it was loved (or not), and how her royalties on the book compared to the cost of a stamp for the thank you note to a fan. But it doesn't even talk about the movie! It only gets as far as the plays, and that wasn't far enough for me.

In 2011, one of the things I liked best was the idea of her "relationship" with Q ... which also reminds me of her "relationship" with Frank Doel. These make me think of some of my online friends, who are as dear to me as "real" people (some more so), and how the fact that I may or may not have met them in real life is totally irrelevant.

As ever, I am in love with Ms. Hanff's love of books. In describing how she came to do all of her shopping with Marks & Co. overseas, she describes how they are better than the volumes in Chaucer Head's window -- "old, mellow loeather-bound books with thick cream-colored pages, but not so opulently fine as to make me feel guilty if I underlined a phrase here (in pencil) or made a margin note there when I felt like it. They didn't have the look of rare or fine books, they looked like the friends I needed them to be."

The description of her friend "Gene" going through the U.S. citizenship process was possibly the best part of the whole book. Funny and poignant, and well-told. It's more meaningful to me because my Polish sister-in-law has her citizenship interview this week, I suppose. But it also captures my favorite thing about going through customs on return to the U.S.: "You won't believe it, but the high point came after I landed at JFK. It was mobbed and I was annoyed, I was tired and I had to stand on a long line at the Immigration desk. We inched along and finally I got to the desk and put my new passport on it, and the man behind the desk looked at it and stamped it. Then he pushed it back to me and said: 'Welcome home." And I had tears in my eyes."

I did, too. I love when they say, "welcome home."

Back to the book thing: "She walked in and headed straight for the bookshelves, which won my heart. Few visitors do that."

There are comments she throws out that make me think she'd have been a great blogger. Or at least that I'd like to have been her friend:

"If he can't get you on that," said Sheila tranquilly, "he'll fly you Concorde."

So then of course I prayed the B.A. flight would be sold out. But God doesn't hear greedy prayers and Sheila phoned back a day later to say I was booked on B.A.'s 10 a.m. flight for Wednesday, November 18.

Recommended for anyone who loved "84, Charing Cross Road". If you haven't read that, read it first. Then you'll enjoy this too.(less)

· see review

Jan 30, 2012

Lisa rated it

This starts out as an interesting book about the author's love of reading and books, her start as a struggling writer in New York City, and how she came to write the great 84, Charing Cross Road. But it deteriorates in the second half into a diary of her third trip to England, and I wonder if she was just encouraged to write another book that fans of 84 and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street would buy, even thought the book turns out to be quite a hodgepodge. Kind of sad, because she is a good and...more

like 1 like

· see review

Dec 25, 2009

Rdonn rated it

Many years ago I enjoyed the book and a London performance of "84 Charing Cross Road". This is a book charting Helene Hanff's development as a writer, and her debt to Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch and his books on writing. She lives from hand to mouth for many years, but then came her successful book. She eventually has trips to London that are amusing and interesting to read, an episode of cataract surgery very traumatic compared to nowadays, and much else. She is an amusing writer wit...more

· see review

Feb 09, 2009

bookczuk rated it

Shelves: bookcrossing, books-about-books, favorite-author, satisfying, taught-me-something

Wonderful, wonderful book -- perfect for book lovers (particularly the anglophile bibliophile) and those who have come to adore Helene Hanff and the cast of characters at Marks and Co through her letters and books. I realize now I've never seen the film version BBC or otherwise, of 84, Charing Cross, and think I should remedy this at some point in the near future. Once again (as I am tempted to do with every reading of 84, Charing Cross) I want to make up a reading list and follow along. One o...more

like 1 like

· see review

Apr 20, 2011

Ruthiella rated it

Recommended to Ruthiella by: www.citizenreader.com

Shelves: 2011, non-fiction

I thought this was going to be about how Hanff’s self study via the writings of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (“Q”) lead her to greater learning and the study of classic authors such as Dante or Sterne. I would like to know all about that, since I find them too intimidating to read myself. But “Q’s Legacy” is just a continuation of “The Duchess of Bloomsbury” really and in some cases, covers the same ground: more trips to London, more fan letters and this time, the stage production of “84, Charing C...more

· see review

Jul 27, 2010

Laura rated it

Recommends it for: book lovers

This is a charming memoir from the author of 84, Charing Cross Road, which you should read before and perhaps instead of this book. Hanff's voice is wonderful and I gave 84, a book of her letters, 5 stars. This one is also very good, but has the feel of watching someone else's vacation slides. She's still an excellent narrator, but when she writes about specific places and people in London she starts to lose me. The story of how she went about educating herself with books from the library wh...more

· see review

Jul 16, 2010

Maggie rated it

Shelves: bookcrosser-s-gift, favorite-authors, non-fiction

This is one of those books which warms your heart the entire time you read it. Helene Hanff is simply one of those people who reach out from the pages and gives the reader a big hug. The book itself discusses how Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch enriched her life through his books and how that led her to a career as a writer of articles, plays, and books, and her writing led to her traveling to England several times. This slim volume is a perfect example of why readers choose books about writers and ...more

· see review

Dec 13, 2009

Denise rated it

I enjoyed this book that goes into more detail about Helene's life than you could get from 84, Charing Cross Road. It still revolved around her love of books but I think I liked 84, Charing Cross Road a little better. I would recommend this book to any true bibliophile.

like 1 like

· see review

Jan 23, 2012

Melody rated it

Recommends it for: people who <3 Hanff & vintage memoirs

Recommended to Melody by: Wallace

Shelves: 2012

I loved 84 Charing Cross Road, and immediately put Q's Legacy on my wishlist...under the impression that it was, as the cover indicated "A delightful account of a lifelong love affair with books". This turned out to be somewhat inaccurate--it really was more of a general memoir--although I found it enjoyable all the same. If you found Helene's personality intriguing in 84, you'll love hearing more of her voice in Q.

· see review

Jan 18, 2010

Bev Atwood rated it

Read 84 Charing Cross Road first. This book gives the reason for the author's friendship with a bookstore in England. For those classically educated, you'll enjoy her search for books that were out of print.

The first half of this book was enjoyable, but the last half of the book looses focus. She yearned to be a successful writer, and this book is an example of why she failed. Her letters are when she is at her best.

· see review

Jun 05, 2008

Ashley rated it

Recommends it for: book lovers

As a fan of 84 Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, this book could not and did not disappoint. It is a mini-auto-biography of Helene Hanff and her love affair with books. It was the search for books by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch ("Q") that lead her to other books that would eventually cause her to ask for the services of a small, antiquarian bookshop in London. The first part of the book seems like an overview of the aforementioned books plus earlier books like Un...more

like 1 like

· see review

Sep 04, 2009

Jessica rated it

Helene Hanff comes to us with another book – ostensibly about reading, but mostly about her second trip to England. I probably should have read The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (about her first trip to England) before I read this one. She seems to assume in this book that the reader has, in fact, read Duchess and fails to really introduce major characters. Also, I was slightly annoyed that this book contained many of the exact same antecdotes told in Letter from New York. Now, granted, she didn’...more

· see review

Aug 14, 2011

Jan C rated it

Shelves: writing, england, ny, 2011

I enjoyed this.

After getting this book, I subsequently obtained The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street so I was trading their places on my bookshelf, fully intending to put this book back in the closet for a while, awaiting its turn to come back to the "to be shelved" list. I made a fatal mistake - fatal to the plan - I opened the book and started reading. It never made it back to the closet.

I've enjoyed every Helene Hanff book that I have read so far (only three). I...more

like 1 like

· see review

Mar 03, 2009

Todd rated it

Shelves: autobiography

Another of Hanff's attempts to do something with a connection to someone from England. Unfortunately, aside from the first few pages of the book, it switches focus and becomes a collection of stuff that was probably left over from her earlier books.

· see review

Aug 07, 2011

Betty added it

I bought this book years ago in a used bookstore (fittingly) because I so loved 84, Charing Cross Road. This is why one has a library: to find a forgotten gem and be transported. It's going to kill me when the day comes that I have to downsize.

· see review

Dec 04, 2011

Vanessa Joy Miller rated it

I read Q after 84. I dearly love the line that HH stumbled over him one day in the library. Sir Authur Quiller-Couch became a real man and I am currently enjoying his lectures in print. I re-read this book at least once every year.

· see review

Dec 13, 2011

Lyvia rated it

This is a very personal memoir by a failed playwright and her mentor. The author's warm-hearted enthusiasm for life comes through strongly. An inspiration for all of us who overcome obstacles in pursuit of our dreams.

· see review

Mar 20, 2011

Ron rated it

I enjoyed all of Hanff's books. They are not long, but fun to read. The Movie of,'84, Charing Cross Road', was well done. Sorry the book store is gone would have loved to have seen it someday.

· see review

Nov 15, 2009

Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: meta-reading, memoir, writing

Not bad. Mostly interesting if you want to follow the progress of Hanff's later life. She does talk a little bit about her, hm, life as a writer, I guess would be the way to put it.

· see review

Apr 09, 2009

Julie rated it

Someone has said that this book is a love letter to life, learning, books and bibliophiles. I couldn't say it better. Read it after you've read the two 84 Charing Cross books though.

like 1 like

· see review

Jul 28, 2011

Raina Murdock rated it

I read this because I am playing Helene in a local theater production of 84 Charing Cross Rd and I just loved learned more about Helene. She is such an interesting, funny and endearing woman.

· see review

Jan 05, 2010

Carolyn (in SC) C234D rated it

I have enjoyed this author's books so much. This is the story of how she came to write 84, Charing Cross Road, and the effects of its success on her life.

like 1 like

· see review

Oct 23, 2011

Vikki rated it

This book is a biography of Helene Hanff. It is very good. She tells how 84 Charling Cross Road came about-the filming of it etc.

· see review

Sep 14, 2007

Lavina rated it

Shelves: nonfiction, 2007

It obviously helps to have first read the book that started this all -- 84, Charing Cross Road. But even without that reference point, I think it would be impossible not to find Hanff's writing poignant and self-deprecatingly hilarious. It's been a while since I've more than chuckled at something funny I'm reading; Hanff's anecdotes about cataracts had me in stitches.

If she were still alive, I'd no doubt be writing her a letter now, offering to make her Yorkshire pudding or somethin...more

· see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 18 19 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (5)

More editions...

Genres

Non Fiction

30 users

Writing > Books About Books

16 users

Autobiography > Memoir

14 users

Biography

11 users

Biography > Autobiography

4 users

Biography Memoir

3 users

Literature > American

3 users

European Literature > British Literature

2 users

Language > Writing

2 users

Literature

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers Also Enjoyed

About Helene Hanff

Helene Hanff (April 15, 1916–April 9, 1997) was an American writer. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she is best known as the author of the book 84 Charing Cross Road, which became the basis for a play, teleplay, and film of the same name.

Career
Her career, which saw her move from writing unproduced plays to helping create some of the earliest television dramas to becoming a ki...more

More about Helene Hanff...

Books by Helene Hanff

84, Charing Cross Road / The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Pin It

Trivia About Q's Legacy

1 trivia question

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Q's Legacy

“Standing there, staring at the long shelves crammed with books, I felt myself relax and was suddenly at peace.” — 11 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Q's Legacy
avg rating	preview: Q's Legacy Goodreads rating: 3.91 (344 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125036.Q_s_Legacy?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327942051m/125036.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125036.Q_s_Legacy?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Q's Legacy by Helene Hanff[/url]

Q's Legacy

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Readers Also Enjoyed

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website