劇情：海倫是個(gè)熱愛(ài)閱讀舊書(shū)的紐約作家，在物質(zhì)貧乏的年代里，她在閱讀中找到心靈寄托。然而，紐約的書(shū)店卻始終無(wú)法滿(mǎn)足她這個(gè)需求。因此，一間倫敦舊書(shū)店的廣告很快就吸引了她，從此她和書(shū)店主管法蘭克以及所有員工，便透過(guò)書(shū)信展開(kāi)數(shù)十年的訂書(shū)、買(mǎi)書(shū)歷程，以及心靈與情感的交流……

　　《查令十字街84號(hào)》記錄了上世紀(jì)中葉紐約女作家海蓮和倫敦一家舊書(shū)店書(shū)商弗蘭克之間的書(shū)緣。雙方通信達(dá)20年之久，卻未曾謀面，至弗蘭克去世也無(wú)緣相見(jiàn)。之后，海蓮把往來(lái)的信件匯集成冊(cè)，以書(shū)店的地址作為書(shū)名出版。書(shū)出版后深受讀者喜愛(ài)，被譯成多種文字流傳，被稱(chēng)為“愛(ài)書(shū)人的《圣經(jīng)》”。海蓮也最終去到倫敦。但那時(shí)人去“店”空，她只能望門(mén)興嘆：“我來(lái)了，弗蘭克，我終于來(lái)了。”

　　此書(shū)多次被改編成舞臺(tái)劇、電視劇和電影。1987年的同名電影獲得有英國(guó)“奧斯卡”之稱(chēng)的英國(guó)電影學(xué)院獎(jiǎng)多項(xiàng)提名。1998年的熱門(mén)電影《電子情書(shū)》也取材于改編自該書(shū)的電視劇。

　　時(shí)至今日，書(shū)店舊址依然釘著一個(gè)銅牌，寫(xiě)有“查令十字街84號(hào)，馬克斯與科恩書(shū)店舊址，因海蓮·漢芙的書(shū)而聞名天下”，仿佛慰藉海蓮那句感動(dòng)萬(wàn)千書(shū)迷的話(huà)：If you happen to pass by 84, Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much.

　　9th April, 1951

　　Dear Miss Hanff,

　　I expect you are getting a bit worried that we have not written to thank

　　you for your parcels and you are probably thinking that we are an 1)ungrateful lot. The truth is that I have been chasing round the country in and out of various 2)stately homes of England trying to buy a few books to fill up our sadly

　　3)depleted stock. My wife was starting to call me the 4)lodger who just went home for bed and breakfast, but of course when

　　I arrived home with a nice piece of MEAT, to say nothing of dried eggs and ham,

　　then she thought I was a fine fellow and all was forgiven. It is a long time since we saw so much meat all in one piece.

　　We should like to express our appreciation in some way or other, so we are sending by Book

　　Post today a little book which I hope you will like. I remember you asked me for a volume of 5)Elizabethan love poems some time ago—well, this is the nearest I can get to it.

　　Yours faithfully,

　　Frank Doel

　　For MARKS & CO.

　　April 16, 1951

　　To All at 84, Charing Cross Road:

　　Thank you for the beautiful book. I’ve never owned a book before with pages edged all round in gold. Would you believe it arrived on my birthday?

　　I wish you hadn’t been so over-6)courteous about putting the 7)inscription on a card instead of on the

　　8)flyleaf. It’s the bookseller coming out in you all, you were afraid you’d decrease its value. You would have increased it for the present owner. (And possibly for the future owner.

　　I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in 9)margins, I like the 10)comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages someone long gone

　　has called my attention to.)

　　And why didn’t you sign your names? I expect Frank wouldn’t let you, he probably doesn’t want me writing love letters to anybody but him.

　　I send you greetings from America—faithless friend that she is, pouring millions into rebuilding Japan and Germany while letting

　　England starve. Some day, God willing, I’ll get over there and apologize personally for my country’s sins (and by the time I come home my country will certainly have to apologize for mine).

　　Thank you again for the beautiful book, I shall try very hard not to get 11)gin and ashes all over it, it’s really much too fine for the likes of me.

　　Yours,

　　Helene Hanff

　　September 10, 1951

　　Dearheart—

　　It is the loveliest old shop straight out of Dickens, you would go absolutely out of your mind over it.

　　There are stalls outside and I stopped and leafed through a few things just to establish myself as a

　　12)browser before wandering in. It’s dim inside, you smell the shop before you see it, it’s a lovely smell, I can’t 13)articulate it easily, but it combines must and dust and age, and walls of wood and floors of wood.

　　Toward the back of the shop at the left there’s a desk with a work-lamp on it, a man was sitting there, he was about fifty with a 14)Hogarth nose, he looked up and said “Good afternoon?” in a North Country accent

　　and I said I just wanted to browse and he said please do.

　　The shelves go on forever. They go up to the ceiling and they’re very old and kind of grey, like old oak that has absorbed so much dust

　　over the years they no longer are their true color. There’s a print section, or rather a long print table, with 15)Cruikshank and Rackham and Spy and all those old wonderful English 16)caricaturists and 17)illustrators that I’m not smart enough to know a lot about, and there are some lovely old, old illustrated magazines.

　　I stayed about half an hour hoping your Frank or one of the girls would turn up, but it was one-ish when I went in, I gather they were all out to lunch and I couldn’t stay any longer…

　　Love,

　　Maxine

　　April 11, 1969

　　Dear Katherine—

　　I take time out from housecleaning my bookshelves and sitting on the rug

　　surrounded by books in every direction to 18)scrawl you a 19)Bon Voyage. I hope you and Brian have a ball in London. He said to me on the phone:

　　“Would you go with us if you had the fare?” and I nearly wept.

　　But I don’t know, maybe it’s just as well I never got there. I dreamed about it for so many years.

　　I used to go to English movies just to look at the streets.

　　I remember years ago a guy I knew told me that people going to England find exactly what they go looking for.

　　I said I’d go looking for the England of English literature, and he nodded and said: “ It’s there.”

　　Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. Looking around the rug one thing’s for sure: it’s there.

　　The blessed man who sold me all my books died a few months ago. And Mr. Marks who owned the shop is

　　dead. But Marks & Co.[注] is still there. If you happen to pass by 84, Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much.

　　Helene

　　1951年4月9日

　　親愛(ài)的漢芙小姐：

　　我猜您大概已經(jīng)開(kāi)始有點(diǎn)擔(dān)心了，我們竟然這么久都沒(méi)寫(xiě)信謝謝您寄來(lái)的包裹，您心里頭一定正在嘀咕：真是一群不知好歹的家伙。事實(shí)是，我一直在鄉(xiāng)間轉(zhuǎn)悠，到處拜訪英格蘭的私人宅第，搜尋待售的藏書(shū)，努力補(bǔ)充店里捉襟見(jiàn)肘的庫(kù)存。我太太已經(jīng)開(kāi)始把我喚成房客了——我總是只回家睡覺(jué)，一吃完早餐又不見(jiàn)人影。不過(guò)，當(dāng)然，當(dāng)我?guī)е?您送的)一大片肉——雞蛋粉、火腿就更不用說(shuō)了——回到家里，她就會(huì)覺(jué)得我人還是不錯(cuò)的，所有的不是也就隨之煙消云散。我們已經(jīng)太久沒(méi)能見(jiàn)到這么一大塊肉了。

　　我們總得想點(diǎn)兒法子，表達(dá)我們對(duì)您的感激。于是，我們今天將通過(guò)書(shū)刊郵寄寄上一本小書(shū)，希望您會(huì)喜歡它。我記得您不久前想買(mǎi)一卷伊麗莎白一世時(shí)期的情詩(shī)集——噢，這是我所能找到的盡可能符合您要求的了。

　　您忠實(shí)的

　　弗蘭克·德?tīng)柧瓷?/p>

　　馬克斯與科恩書(shū)店

　　1951年4月16日

　　致查令十字街84號(hào)全體同仁：

　　謝謝你們送我這本美麗的書(shū)。我從沒(méi)擁有過(guò)這么一本三邊頁(yè)緣都燙上金的書(shū)。你們知道嗎?我竟在生日當(dāng)天收到這本書(shū)!

　　你們另外寫(xiě)了一張卡片，而不直接題簽在扉頁(yè)上，我真希望你們不要這樣過(guò)分拘謹(jǐn)。這一定是你們的“書(shū)商本性”使然吧，你們擔(dān)心一旦寫(xiě)了字在書(shū)上，將會(huì)折損它的價(jià)值。你們?nèi)绻婺苓@么做，對(duì)我這個(gè)該書(shū)的現(xiàn)時(shí)擁有者而言，增添了無(wú)可估算的價(jià)值。(甚或?qū)ξ磥?lái)的書(shū)主也如此。我喜歡扉頁(yè)上有題簽、頁(yè)邊寫(xiě)滿(mǎn)注記的舊書(shū);我愛(ài)極了那種與心有靈犀的前人冥冥共讀，時(shí)而戚戚于胸、時(shí)而被耳提面命的感覺(jué)。)

　　還有，為什么大家都不簽上名字呢?我猜一定是弗蘭克不準(zhǔn)你們簽的，他大概怕我會(huì)撇下他，一一給你們大家寫(xiě)情書(shū)吧!

　　我在美國(guó)遙寄我對(duì)你們的祝福——“美國(guó)”，好一個(gè)“堅(jiān)定的盟邦”!她一擲千金幫助重建日本、德國(guó)，卻眼睜睜看著英國(guó)同胞飽受饑饉!蒼天為證，總有一天我要親自去英國(guó)，當(dāng)面代她向你們道歉。(等我回國(guó)后，我會(huì)叫她加倍向你們賠罪!)

　　再次感謝你們送我這本美麗的書(shū)，我一定會(huì)格外小心，免得讓它濺到酒滴、沾了煙灰。這份禮物對(duì)我這種人來(lái)說(shuō)實(shí)在太厚

　　重了。

　　你們的

　　海蓮·漢芙上

　　1951年9月10日

　　甜心兒：

　　這是一間活脫脫從狄更斯書(shū)里頭蹦出來(lái)的可愛(ài)老鋪?zhàn)樱绻屇阋?jiàn)到了，不愛(ài)死了才怪。

　　店門(mén)口陳列了幾架書(shū)，開(kāi)門(mén)進(jìn)去前，我先站在外頭假裝隨意翻閱幾本書(shū)，好讓自己看起來(lái)像是若無(wú)其事地逛書(shū)店。一走進(jìn)店內(nèi)，便暗了下來(lái)，最先撲鼻而來(lái)的是書(shū)店奇妙的氣息。我實(shí)在不知道該怎么形容：那是一種混雜著霉味兒、積塵和久遠(yuǎn)歷史的氣息，加上墻壁、地板散發(fā)的木頭香。書(shū)店最里面的左手邊有張書(shū)桌，上面有一盞工作燈，旁邊坐著一位年約五十、長(zhǎng)著一只賀加斯式鼻子的男士。他抬起頭來(lái)，操著北方口音對(duì)我說(shuō)：“日安。”我回答說(shuō)我只是想隨意逛逛，而他則有禮地說(shuō)：“請(qǐng)。”

　　極目所見(jiàn)全是書(shū)架——這些書(shū)架高聳直抵到天花板，樣式古舊，泛著灰色，像是經(jīng)過(guò)漫長(zhǎng)歲月洗禮的老橡木，已經(jīng)不再呈現(xiàn)出原來(lái)的真實(shí)顏色了。接著是印刷區(qū)，或者應(yīng)該說(shuō)是一張長(zhǎng)的印刷臺(tái)。上頭有克魯克香克、拉克姆、斯派和許許多多我叫不出名字的英國(guó)老漫畫(huà)家、插畫(huà)家的作品;另外還有一些漂亮的很舊、很舊的畫(huà)刊。

　　我在店內(nèi)待了約莫半個(gè)鐘頭光景，期待著你的弗蘭克或是哪個(gè)女孩兒翩翩現(xiàn)身。不過(guò)，因?yàn)槲业竭_(dá)時(shí)已是一點(diǎn)鐘左右，我猜他們?nèi)纪獬鲇貌腿チ?，而我又不能待太久?hellip;…

　　愛(ài)你的

　　瑪克辛(譯者注：海蓮在倫敦的朋友)

　　1969年4月11日

　　親愛(ài)的凱瑟琳：

　　我從整理書(shū)架中抽出時(shí)間，坐在四周都擺滿(mǎn)書(shū)籍的地毯上給你寫(xiě)送別信。我希望你和布萊恩在倫敦過(guò)得快樂(lè)。布萊恩在電話(huà)中對(duì)我說(shuō)：“如果你手頭寬裕，有足夠路費(fèi)，會(huì)和我們一道去嗎?”我一聽(tīng)，眼淚差點(diǎn)要奪眶而出。

　　但是我不知道，或許我從不踏足那片土地也不錯(cuò)。我巴望著去那里那么多年了。我曾經(jīng)只是為了瞧倫敦的街景而看了大量的英國(guó)電影。記得多年前我認(rèn)識(shí)的一個(gè)朋友對(duì)我說(shuō)，那些去英國(guó)的人總能在那兒找到他們最想要的東西。我說(shuō)，我要去找尋英國(guó)文學(xué)，他點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭，告訴我：“就是那兒了。”

　　或許在那兒，或許不在?？纯吹靥核闹?散亂的書(shū)籍)，有一樣?xùn)|西我可以肯定：就是那兒了。

　　賣(mài)這些好書(shū)給我的那個(gè)好心人已在數(shù)月前去世了，書(shū)店老板馬克斯先生也已不在人間。但是，馬克斯與科恩書(shū)店還在那兒。你們?nèi)羟『寐方?jīng)查令十字街84號(hào)，代我獻(xiàn)上一吻吧?我虧欠它良多。

　　海蓮