I had taken a copy of Apple of My Eye to New York and was spending my days following in Helene and Patsy’s footsteps. As an author myself I have exactly the same reaction from my beloved husband Rob. At one point Patsy made the withering comment that the photographic book should carry a rider stating ‘ Everything in this book is only half-accurate.’ Oh how I related to this. She would constantly harangue her friend ‘ Get this down….Have you written that down?’. Patsy was a stickler for detail and felt that Helene was a little slap-dash in her approach. I am not sure whether the original project ever came to fruition, but their weekly forays produced a very funny, very personal walking guide called Apple of My Eye. She enlisted the help of her friend Patsy Gibbs, and together the two middle aged women explored Manhattan. Subsequently she was commissioned to write the text for a photographic work on New York, but despite having lived in The Big Apple all her adult life, she realized there were shocking gaps in her knowledge of the city. The diary of her trip was published as The Duchess of Bloomsbury. Nevertheless, she met his widow and ex-staff members from the by now defunct Marks & Co. In 1971 her literary success finally enabled her to do so, but unfortunately Frank Doel had died in 1968. Ms Hanff had always dreamed of visiting London, although her savings were constantly eroded by dental bills (she has my sincere sympathy here!).
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