A book collector in Essex found his wife’s childhood notes tucked in an old Enid Blyton novel, 50 years after she wrote them!
You know how sometimes you stumble across something that makes you sit back, grin, and say, “Well, that’s a bit of magic right there?” That’s exactly what happened to Steve Mills, a 67-year-old book collector from Hockley, Essex, who recently had one of the most heartwarming “you couldn’t make it up” moments of his life.
Notes Through Time
Picture this: Steve is just pottering around at home, rearranging his pride and joy, which just so happen to be his collection of Enid Blyton books. Nothing unusual there; he’s a seasoned collector, with around 50 of the nostalgic children’s classics lined neatly on his shelves. But then, while pulling out his copy of The Naughtiest Girl Again, something caught his eye. Inside the front cover, in familiar blue ink, were scribbles—names, addresses, family details.
At first, Steve was baffled. He’d never seen these before. He’d bought the book from a charity shop, so it wasn’t a surprise that there were scribbles… But he knew the writing. He knew the names, the addresses.
Then the penny dropped.
This wasn’t just anyone’s childhood doodling; it was his wife Karen’s… The very same Karen he’s been married to for decades. She was just a little girl in Staffordshire when she scrawled those notes, long before she had even met Steve. And somehow, through a wild, 160-mile journey, a village fete, and a charity shop shelf, her old book had made its way right back into her husband’s hands, fifty years later.
“I kept rereading it and thought, This cannot be, surely?” Steve said, still gobsmacked by the find. “I opened the front cover and I was shocked to see my brother-in-law’s name in it. It included an address that I’d heard my wife mention and I just couldn’t believe it.”
Imagine it: you’re tidying your books, and suddenly you’re holding a little time capsule written by the love of your life when she was still in pigtails. The universe sure is a strange place.
A Book With a Backstory
So how did Karen’s book end up in Steve’s collection in the first place? Well, like all good stories, it involves the perfect mixture of a bit of chance, distance, and a dash of serendipity.
Back in the 1970s, Karen’s mom had a clear-out and gave away some of her daughter’s childhood books at a local fete in Staffordshire. That should’ve been the end of it.
Fast forward a few decades, and Steve, completely unaware of this history, picked up The Naughtiest Girl Again at a charity shop in Rayleigh, Essex, 257 kilometers away from where Karen’s mother had donated it. To him, it was just another Blyton to add to his collection. He slotted it on the shelf and didn’t give it much thought… until now.
When Steve finally showed Karen what he’d uncovered, she was just as stunned as he was. “She was equally shocked,” he laughed. “It was actually quite a cute thing to look at.”
More Where That Came From
Just when you think the story couldn’t get any sweeter, it does. That Enid Blyton book wasn’t alone. When the Mills started poking around, they discovered that two other books in Steve’s collection also carried Karen’s childhood handwriting.
Yes, three separate novels, all annotated by young Karen, had somehow found their way back to her husband. What are the odds? Steve himself admitted, “We both sat there really not quite sure how to handle it because this was just extraordinary.”
For him, those books are no longer just collector’s items; they’ve become personal treasures, tangible little reminders of how their childhoods, passions, and paths were quietly aligned long before they ever met.
“They look nice on the shelf, and it gives me a nice warm feeling to know I’ve got them,” he said. “It bridges the two of us even closer.”
How Special Books Can Be
There’s something especially touching about this story because it taps into the romance of books themselves. Anyone who’s ever scoured a charity shop shelf knows the thrill of a “find.” Sometimes it’s a rare edition, sometimes it’s a long-forgotten favorite, and sometimes, if you’re very lucky, it’s a book with a story written into its very pages.
Marginalia—that’s the term for little notes in the margins, childhood doodles, lists, or signatures—are like breadcrumbs from the past. They remind us that books are more than just items; they have lives, just as we do. They pass through hands, carry memories, and sometimes, if the stars align, they make their way back home.
For Steve and Karen, that sense of history feels even more magical. They were two children who never knew each other back then, yet somehow the love of reading, of scribbling names inside book covers, and of holding on to beloved Blytons was already knitting their lives together.
A Collector’s New Quest
Of course, now that Steve knows what treasures could be hiding on his shelves, he’s officially on a new mission. “There’s probably more out there, so it’s set me on another quest,” he admitted. Can you imagine the excitement of picking up one of your books and wondering, could this be another one?
For a man who already loves collecting, this adds a whole new thrill to the hunt. Forget just finding an Enid Blyton in good condition, now the grail is one that carries his wife’s childhood scrawl. Bring on the charity shops!
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Millie Ramm
Millie has been writing since she was a child, and has spent more time with her nose in books than anywhere else. She has been ghostwriting novels and editing for the past few years, and when not working she is curled up with her cats, looking for her next read.
