How a little Mayfair bookshop inspired Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love Having almost given up writing, Nancy Mitford joined Heywood Hill bookshop, turning it into a literary salon that inspired her greatest work Heywood Hill bookshop in Mayfair, beloved by the Queen The year is 1936: Jesse Owens embarrasses the Third Reich at its own Olympics, Edward VIII ascends the throne and Heywood Hill, a little bookshop on Curzon Street in Mayfair, opens its doors for the first time. Named after the proprietor George Heywood Hill, an Old Etonian who married the daughter of the Earl of Cranbrook, the bookshop initially specialised in first and limited editions as well as Victorian toys, with most of its clientele aristocrats due to its affluent location.