Leona and Madeleine are two American girls with impeccable backgrounds in books and bookloving, dating from before the Second World War. They got together and became booksellers on the most fragile of bases - the stationery was printed a year before they ever sold a book - but their friendship was firm, their enthusiasm vast and their knowledge immense.

They started off with a tiny stock, superbly described in their first catalogue, and built up their initial success, fuelling it with trips to postwar Europe where they happily trawled through centuries of printed rummage to unearth treasures for resale.

Every year they booked a trip, at first aboard ex-troopships, more latterly on airliners, and explored the labyrinthine world of booksellers and their wares. From the third floor of Marks and Co in Charing Cross Road to a secluded chateau outside Paris and all points in between they met and described in their diaries the amazingly colourful booksellers and their shops. A stack of Renaissance folios in the toilet, a rat in the basement, an ex-movie star, Russian emigres - I can hardly begin to describe the experiences they had and the people they met and charmed.

From the very first pages I can understand why they found their way into so many hearts. The excitement at finding a rare book for a song is genuine, the affection they feel for each other and their annual friends warming, and the language in which they describe it all is witty and engaging. One can almost smell the dusty, musty bookshops, the tottering stacks, the ricketty ladders, the clutter, calfskin and cellars of old world bookshops.

If you love books at all, then go forth and hunt down this one. It is a rare treasure in itself, an authentic feelgood odyssey through the world of booksellers, their wares and their curious habitats. A tag-team effort of both partners, it is a delight from beginning to end.

For everyone loving books, history and detectives this book is a great pleasure to read. With great enthusiasm Leona & Madeleine write about their lives and the books which they bought and sold. It makes one jealous of times when rare books could still be found under piles of dust instead of being sold for fortunes. So stop reading the reviews and start reading this book now.

Given to me as a birthday present on a misty Northwest beach,the whimsical allure of these charmingly self-possessed women residingin one of the toughest cities in the world, drew me into its first pages even as the rest of my party sat around on logs, barbecuing fine local viands & feeding the camp dogs. From their student years, surviving the Depression & WWII; to studying & getting published through the exciting times of starting a company & their book-hunting jaunts to musty basements in faraway places this is a lively, lovely duet by two voices weaving a deeply evocative memoir...

Those who love books and the history of the written word have benefitted from these devoted "literary sleuths" who not only devoted themselves to located lost treasures, but who pioneered the rights of women in academe. A story of how devotede friends could pool their talents to rescue lost arts and discover the literary secrets of groundbreaking authors. A suprisingly exciting read.

If you haven't already read "Old Books, Rare Friends" by the same authors, then you may enjoy this title.

However, if you've already read "Old Books, Rare Friends," you'll probably be very disappointed. "Bookends" is a much shorter work, and much of it simply repeats "Old Books, Rare Friends."

"Bookends" leaves out most of the stories concerning the authors' book collecting and instead focuses on their relationships with others (e,g,., men they didn't marry, mothers, dogs).