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.
THE BINDING by Bridget Collins
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy Fiction > Magical Realism
Published: 2018
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
WHAT A CONCEPT! I've read so many clever and compelling books, but there are only a few that manage to make me feel true envy towards the authors who thought of the idea before me! Bridget Collins is a genius; I can't wait to read more of her work. (Watch this space for a book review of The Binding later this month).
We all know words have power, but what if books were dangerous? What if you could pay for the privilege to forget? What if you could sell your memories? What if you've been bound into a book against your will? What happens when part of your mind is bound inside a book, and the book falls into the wrong hands?
The questions buzzed in my mind, all shockingly answered by the end of the book, but not in the ways I would have expected.
"Which is worse? To feel nothing, or to grieve something you no longer remembered?"
Reading this will make you think differently about books and their contents. Only the author can tell you how much of a story is fictional or real, and what was sacrificed to write them. The though now gives me a shivery chill, that's both thrilling and eerie.
We all have memories and moments from our past that we would love to expunge, and that's why this novel is so relatable. It frightens me that so many people would jump at the opportunity to take memories away if bookbinders like this existed in our world and society. Memories in exchange for money. Desperate people do desperate things, as proved by Bridget Collins' imperfectly human characters. I was so invested in their stories!
The Binding was an alluringly immersive blend of historical fiction, fantasy and fairy-tale inspiration and boundary-defying love that literally makes my mouth water with appeal. It's pure untainted magic that will hold you captive from start to finish. I honestly could not be persuaded to put it down! I read it walking up the stairs to bed and night, and found it in my hands the moment I woke. I felt like I'd been bound between its pages.
Zuzu 🖋
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Great review! Love the sound of this book! Really powerful concept 👏
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