It turned up in a cardboard box at the back of an attic, beneath a pile of old magazines: a hardback novel with a faded cover and a library stamp still sharp on the inside page. The due date was long before the person who found it had been born.
Rather than quietly keeping the book, the finder took it back, along with a handwritten note apologising on behalf of whoever had borrowed it all those years ago.
The library staff expected a curiosity. What they did not expect was what they found when they opened it. In the middle of the book, pressed flat between two chapters, lay a fern frond: dry, brownish green and perfectly intact, every tiny leaflet still in place.
A bookmark from another time
Nobody knows who pressed it or why. Perhaps someone picked it on a woodland walk and needed something to mark their page. Perhaps it was a keepsake meant to be found again but never was. The marked page offers no obvious clue, which the staff admit makes the mystery all the more appealing.
No overdue fine was charged. Instead, the book and fern now sit side by side in a glass case beside the lending desk, with a small card inviting visitors to guess the story behind them. Suggestions so far range from a first date to a school nature project.
After its long absence, the novel is back in the catalogue. For now, however, it is staying exactly where it is.
