 Although claimed to be a true story, at least one source implies  that there was a bit of artistic license. Leo Marks, later a  screenwriter, was the son of the bookstores owner, and the head of  codes and communication for Britains special operatives and the  underground during WWII, despite being barely old enough for  college. In his book "Between Silk and Cyanide" he says of his  father: "He never read the gentle little myth by Helene Hanff; Long  before it was published hed become one himself."