Book returned to library after 3,000-mile mistake

The book was returned to Norfolk after being mistakenly taken to its namesake county in the US

A book taken from a library in Norfolk has been returned after it was mistakenly handed in to another library in the US.

The copy of Animal Ark ended up at Norfolk Library in Connecticut - more than 3,000 miles (4,800km) from where it was borrowed in Swaffham.

It was brought home by a Norfolk holidaymaker who had it brought to his attention during a trip across the pond.

"Quite how someone got confused and returned it to the wrong place, we have no idea," Swaffham Library said on Facebook.

"Oh, and there's the fact it's literally thousands of miles away and across an entire ocean.

"But still. It made it there, and it has now made it back!"

Norfolk Libraries said its Swaffham building was "very different" to the site in Connecticut

Ann Havemeyer, the director of the US library, said the book had been dropped off in a returns drawer outside the building.

"We had no idea and we still don't know who put it in the book drawer, and we were kind of perplexed about what to do," she told the BBC.

Ms Havemeyer said staff "couldn't believe it" when a man and his sister from Norfolk, England, later turned up by sheer coincidence.

Following conversations with a librarian, it was agreed they would return it to its rightful home.

Librarian Yun Ling, who has worked in Swaffham for 14 years, said it was "lovely to see" the book back where it belonged.

"I was amazed that it came back in one piece," she added.