The book that really is a mystery
The book that really is a mystery
A Melbourne great-grandmother’s lost childhood book has been returned to her 66 years after it went missing.
How it found its way to New York is a story in itself – a mystery with a happy ending.
‘Magic Australia' is not any old book - it was a gift to Betty Fowkes from her war veteran father George when the family had little money to spare.
But the tale of how it was lost when she was 11. and then turned up again a lifetime later is one of love, luck and the internet.
Daughter Liz Crooks tracked down five first editions around the world.
On further inspection through an American seller, she realised one was the very same book originally given to her mother.
Betty last saw the book in the Melbourne suburb of Northcote but it went missing during a move in 1948.
Now, 66 years later it remains a mystery how it found its way to a small bookstore in New York.
