A library was surprised to be handed back a book that was loaned out in 1936, and even more shocked when the 95-year-old woman returning the aged tome offered to pay back the full £1,700 overdue fee
Hazel Severson, 95, from Sacramento, California, explained how a friend found a book that her late husband had borrowed from an Amador County library in 1936 while sorting through things for a garage sale.
She knew what she had to do: return the book and offer to pay the overdue fee - a whopping $2,701 (£1,710).
Mrs Severson told The Sacramento Bee newspaper that she and her husband Howard were newlyweds back when he took out the hardback, Seaplane Solo, about Sir Francis Chichester’s 1930 solo flight across the Tasman Sea.
Luckily for Mrs Severson the library didn’t charge her the fee, though it did accept a small donation when she handed the book in.
Librarian Laura Einstadter says the library was just happy to get the book back.
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