A LIBRARY book is finally back where it belongs - 74 years late!

Lancing librarians are used to dealing with overdue returns but never expected to tot up a fine for £2,322.40. The Shadow Of The East, by E. M. Hull, was due back on January 3, 1924, but has only just been returned. The missing book was found between the floorboards at Shoreham's Information Shop during a refurbishment. The tale of a man whose love for a Japanese girl ends in tragedy is now on display in Lancing Library as the most overdue book ever to come back to a West Sussex library. Assistant librarian Simon Edwards, 22, said: "Some builders found it and returned it to us. "The original stamp is in the front which shows it came from Steyning Library, but it is in a real state. It was a nice surprise." The borrower will remain a mystery, as will the history behind how the book ended up under floorboards in Shoreham. And nobody will have to pay the hefty fine. Simon added: "Books are not normally returned later than a couple of weeks. People are generally quite good. "But we once had a book returned to Bognor Library anonymously from someone who had borrowed it seven years earlier and felt guilty. "This has caused quite a stir among people visiting the library. Everyone comments on how interesting it is. "Everyone loves history, especially when it's something like this." Builder John Comber, 59, of Rose Walk, Goring, who found the book, said: "We were modernising the shop and in the process we found the book under the floor in the loft. "It used to be a house a long, long time ago. We just put it to one side and it was only later we realised how interesting it was. "The book was a little dusty and cobwebby and had deteriorated with age. We rang the library and they said they would like it back, so we took it in."

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