I Love a Coincidence

So, in the car to the Topsfield Fair yesterday, I told my friend, A., that I'd just finished reading a wonderful novel.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's by Stella Gibbons," I said, knowing she'd recognize the author of Cold Comfort Farm. "It's called Nightingale Wood. I got it from the library." That is, the Copley branch of the Boston Public Library. (A. lives in Newton and goes to her local library.)

"I just read, it, too." she said. "I got it out of the library a few weeks ago Was the cover sort of bent?"

"Yes," I said, not entirely convinced that we had both just read the exact same paperback copy of an obscure novel from 1938 in succession. I'd had it reserved for several weeks. And I'd never discussed it with A., although we like to talk about books.

But later, when we went to my apartment for iced tea and Possum, the book was sitting on the coffee table, and she recognized the little creases she'd added to the cover when it fell off her bed or someplace between readings. And, lo, I just checked the BPL's website, and there is indeed just one copy of the book in the Metro-Boston Library Network.

How's that for a coincidence? I wonder which one of you has dibs on it next?