- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: The Borough Press; 01 edition (26 Dec. 2019)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 000827214X
- ISBN-13: 978-0008272142
Synopsis
Imagine you could erase your grief.
Imagine you could forget your pain.
Imagine you could hide a secret.
Forever.
Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a letter arrives summoning him to begin an apprenticeship. He will work for a Bookbinder, a vocation that arouses fear, superstition and prejudice – but one neither he nor his parents can afford to refuse.
He will learn to hand-craft beautiful volumes, and within each he will capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory. If there’s something you want to forget, he can help. If there’s something you need to erase, he can assist. Your past will be stored safely in a book and you will never remember your secret, however terrible.
In a vault under his mentor’s workshop, row upon row of books – and memories – are meticulously stored and recorded.
Then one day Emmett makes an astonishing discovery: one of them has his name on it.
Review
Recently released in paperback, and Waterstones Book of the Month, The Binding is a magical and spellbinding read. Not set in any particular period, but obviously historical in setting, it is a time where books are seen as suspicious and those who make them witches or magicians. After a long period of ill health, Emmett Farmer is sent to be apprenticed to book binder, Seredith, out in the marshes. He is not sure why he has been chosen, but book binding is a vocation, something you are born to do; Binding peoples memories and fears, wiping their memories, and giving them a second chance. Amongst the books of peoples memories in Seredith’s vault is a book with his own name on, just what has he had wiped?
The Binding is a book I have been looking forward to reading for a while and finally got around to it over Christmas. I found it intriguing that it was set in historical period but no dates given, giving an otherworldly feel at times. Being a book lover it is hard to imagine a time when books were seen as suspicious, a thing to be avoided. This was because that as well as the book binders who bind memories, and keep those memories locked away, there are those binders who sell these memories, and people who sell the story of their lives to binders, to sell on for people’s pleasure which is very much frowned upon. There are also those who abuse this process, the who take advantage of their status, abuse those lower than themselves then wipe their memories. For me, this brought to mind the saying “Ignorance is bliss”, but is it, should we not learn from our mistakes, remember those we have hurt and try to live a better life.
This book is not just about the binding, there is also a love story that crosses boundaries and adds a different dynamic to the story. Emmett is the main character, expected to take over his families farm as generations before him have done. After his long period of sickness he is struggling with the work, no longer strong and muscular, he finds himself weak and struggling with his tasks. He has no desire to be a binder, but finds himself sent against his will, but overtime with teaching from the mysterious Seredith, he realises its not worth fighting it, and finds a new side to his life. It is whilst there he sees Lucian Darnay when he visits Seredith for a binding. Darnay gives Emmett a feeling of unease and fear, and leaves him feeling unwell but he doesn’t know why. I’m not going to say much more about the book as it would be giving away some of the cornerstones of the plot. If I had to find a fault with this book it would be that I would like there to have been more time spent on the binding and binders.
The Binding is a haunting and atmospheric read with plenty of darkness and light, humour and suspense, love and fear. Beautifully written, with insight and a touch of magic make this such a wonderful and intriguing read, and an outstanding debut novel. Truly spellbinding, haunting and immersive this is a fantastic book.
