Family reunited with daughter's 55-year-old book

A woman who bought a second-hand book while on holiday has helped return it to the family of its original owner more than 50 years later.

Nicola Lomax, from Ramsbottom in Lancashire, spotted the copy of The House of the Pelican by Elisabeth Kyle in a charity shop in Keswick, Cumbria, while on a break in the Lake District.

She said she was drawn in by the book's cover and picked it up almost immediately.

When she opened the book, she discovered an inscription inside with the name Donna Priday and a date from 1971, linking it to Dame Hannah Rogers School in Ivybridge, Devon.

"It was literally on the shelf for five seconds and I grabbed it. The cover just intrigued me," said Lomax.

"I opened it up and all the writing in it was from Donna who owned the book."

Curious about how a book inscribed in Devon had ended up hundreds of miles away in Cumbria, Lomax decided to look into its history.

"My husband said, 'I wonder what the story is and why a book from Devon has ended up in a charity shop in Keswick'," she said.

She posted a message on a Facebook page in Ivybridge asking if anyone recognised the name inside the book and was contacted by a friend of the family, who explained Donna had died at a young age but her father, Mike Priday, still lived locally.

The friend passed on the family's details and Lomax posted the book back to Devon on Friday.

Mike Priday, 89, said he was thankful to Lomax for making the effort to trace the family.

Donna died of leukaemia in 1975, aged 14. Her mother Mary died in January 2025.

"She would have been over the moon that someone has thought about this and taken the trouble to find the owner," he said.

He said Donna had been a keen reader.

"She enjoyed books, she was a lovely kid," he said. "You never forget it if you lose a child, it is with you forever. It will be nice to see it and bring back more memories for me."

Lomax said returning the book had been an emotional experience.

"I felt really emotional because of her story and what had happened," she said. "It is nice knowing that a book like that is being reunited with the family, with her dad."

After sending the original book back, Lomax bought herself another copy so she could finally read it.

"It feels fabulous. It is a happy ending," she said.

By coincidence, the book is also a mystery that its characters set out to solve.

The House of the Pelican by Elisabeth Kyle, tells the story of Janet, who cannot find the way back to the house where an old man showed her a valuable gold musical box. She sets out with her brother and two friends to solve the mystery.

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