84, Charing Cross Road is the best-known of Hanff's four titles published specifically for an adult audience. The work exemplifies an economic and literate prose style, Hanff's hallmarks that have been traditionally celebrated by critics. Many critics, however, find the appeal of Hanff's memoir to be a function of its Victorian charm. For example, Thomas Lask, in a New York Times review, praised the work for its nineteenth-century response to the encroachments of a twentieth-century computerized society. Lask adds that the book is "an emollient for the spirit and the sheath for the exposed nerve." Other critics cite Hanff's keen sense of wit as a contributing factor to the success of the text; a quality recognized consistently by critics with respect to her other works.

84, Charing Cross Road gained critical acclaim and was subsequently adapted for film, television, and the stage. Stanley Kauffman's review in the New...