The Binding

Product Information

The book starts strongly with Emmett, the teenage son of a farmer, apprenticed to Seredith, an old binder who lives on the edge of a marsh. Just as he is settling into his new life and learning his trade, he makes a discovery – one of the books in her bindery vault bears his name.

What are books if not compendiums of secrets, truths about the world made physical? Such is the premise of THE BINDING by Bridget Collins, which takes place in a world where books are traumas bound by magic, preserved externally so that bound folks can walk through the world untroubled by unwanted memories of their past. But while Seredith is an artisan, there are others of their kind, avaricious and amoral tradesman who use their talents for dark ends—and just as Emmett begins to settle into his new circumstances, he makes an astonishing discovery: one of the books has his name on it. Soon, everything he thought he understood about his life will be dramatically rewritten.Which was worse? To feel nothing, or to grieve for something you no longer remembered? Surely when you forgot, you’d forget to be sad, or what was the point? And yet that numbness would take part of your self away, it would be like pins and needles in your soul… For first person narrative, the writing was surprisingly poignant and graceful. The atmosphere and setting was developed particularly well, I had no trouble establishing the world of The Binding in my head.

The Binding is many things: a story about the literal power of books; the power memory wields over us and our sense of identity; the perils of consumerism when it’s something personal to you that’s the commodity; that what binds us together can set us free as well as tear us apart: learning to know and accept yourself, and others, for who they are and an unapologetically romantic love story. All of which have combined to make it one of the bestselling titles of 2019, an epithet it’s definitely worthy of! The Binding by Bridget Collins made me laugh, cry and everything in between with its strong story and absolutely breathtaking romance. Very occasionally I read a book that confounds all my expectations and The Binding by Bridget Collins was was one of these. I’m not sure if this was because I didn’t read the synopsis fully or because I became confused with other publications, but the story turned out to be very different from the one I anticipated. This wasn’t a bad thing though – far from it. The Binding is a great example of commercial literary fiction done well – fusing magical realism and romance within a historical setting. Moreover, the plot centres around books which is always a major hook for any bibliophile.What he comes to learn troubles him even more deeply. Memories, he discovers, can be stolen, treated as a commodity just like sugar or soap and sold for amusement and profit by manipulative, powerful figures. I read The Binding by Bridget Collins in the middle of summer and found it a satisfying read, but I think it would be perfect for autumn or winter. Its gothic, almost claustrophobic ambience has a seductive quality that draws you in. I already have my eye on Collins’ next novel, The Betrayals, which revolves around a mysterious game and is due to publish in November 2020. Me ha resultado mágica la manera en la que a través de los ojos de Emmett conocemos los enigmas que hay detrás del oficio que deberá ejercer. El poder del ser humano y el sufrimiento que hay en la gran mayoría de ellos. Todos aquellos que están traumatizados o marcados tienen la opción de encuadernar en un libro sus recuerdos tormentosos de un pasado sombrío que necesitan olvidar. I really wish they would make a movie adaptation! If it was made in a similar style as ‘Stay with me’ it could be amazing!

Despite some raw similarities, bookbinding in Bridget Collins’s world is not quite the same as it is in ours. Emmett trains with the elderly Seradith, a woman seen as being a witchy sort by some of the locals. In fact, bookbinding is seen as a dodgy sort of work. What is bound in books here are memories. Instead of sharing recollections or stories, as they do in our reality, the memories bound into beautifully crafted leather books in this world are removed from clients by binders. Unlike books in our world, which are designed to be shared, these books are meant to be hidden. Being on the NY Times Top Ten list would kinda defeat the purpose. Lucian is still weak but he now remembers. And he goes through all the memories that were in his book. And it summorizes the whole timeline, so that every thing happened in the book now makes sense in the readers mind as well. It’s really nicely written 🙂 So this book has many good things to recommend it—a fascinating premise, sympathetic main characters, plus one very good supporting character, many instances of beautiful and atmospheric writing, a gothic style setting, and plenty of mystery. But the relationship between the two main characters took center stage after part one, which I feel took something away from the general story and left no room for the author to explore the act of binding or its effect on that society, especially with a change in viewpoint. The ending was also a bit too tidy for me and didn’t answer some lingering questions. This is a book about books both as objects of desire and as objects of abomination because they are written by people “who enjoy imagining misery … people who have no scruples about dishonesty.” . As well, it’s a book about books: the mFor the young apprentice binder Emmett Farmer the moment of binding wrenches out the deepest part of a person, leaving a hole in its place.