The book that has finally been returned to The Queens Public Library has been identified as The Lonesome Trail by B.M. Bower. A book that had been published back in 1909, was finally returned from being checked out in 1926 through a package that was left with a really simple note explaining nothing. Personally, I wouldn’t want to know how much those late fees would’ve been!
What is most interesting in this book return mystery is the note that was left with this anonymous package.
In a extremely short message: “Long overdue — Sorry,” with no other details regarding who this could have belonged to. This book’s temporary owner had it in their possession for around 97 years, must have been a slow reader!
The Lonesome Trail is quite an interesting read if you were thinking about looking into it. It’s a Western Fiction Novel, which follows the story of a group of cowhands that decide to leave their ranch and head out toward the big city. The author, B.M. Bower, pen name for Bertha Muzzy Sinclair was a female American writer that wrote a multitude of pieces based around the western lifestyle.
Bertha Muzzy Sinclair was a trailblazing author for being one of the first women to ever write in this genre and have it be so believable as readers thought a man wrote it. She was born in 1871 and passed in 1940, living for 68 years, and published 57 novels during her time.
Some of these novels that she published even became popular Western films. Bower pushed boundaries during this time in such a male-dominated field, especially in this genre, and provided accurate and real-feeling fiction novels and screenplays. According to her IMBd page, it seems that she made around 20 shorts and movies during her life, along with all the published novels. Bower deserves all of the recognition, and I think the return of this book is finally giving her some within the new generation.
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