The Binding
Author: Bridget Collins
Published by: Borough Press
Pages: 490
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
Emmett Farmer is a binder’s apprentice.
His job is to hand-craft beautiful books and, within each, to capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory.
If you have something you want to forget, or a secret to hide, he can bind it – and you will never have to remember the pain it caused.
In a vault under his mentor’s workshop, row upon row of books – and secrets – are meticulously stored and recorded.
Then one day Emmett makes an astonishing discovery: one of the volumes has his name on it.
His job is to hand-craft beautiful books and, within each, to capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory.
If you have something you want to forget, or a secret to hide, he can bind it – and you will never have to remember the pain it caused.
In a vault under his mentor’s workshop, row upon row of books – and secrets – are meticulously stored and recorded.
Then one day Emmett makes an astonishing discovery: one of the volumes has his name on it.
My thoughts
With The Binding, Bridget Collins has created a beautifully imagined piece of fantasy historical fiction.. But this is also a beautiful love story of a poor farmer's son, Emmet Farmer, and the wealthy, privileged Lucian Darnay, who are doomed to be star crossed lovers. In this world, books take on an entirely different role. Books are for all those things that people feel destroyed by and cannot live with in their lives.
We take memories and bind them. Whatever people can’t bear to remember. Whatever they can’t live with. We take those memories and put them where they can’t do any harm. That’s all books are.’
At the start of the novel, Emmett sets off to be an apprentice as a binder so that one day he can do it himself. In the remote house of his mentor, he will learn to craft beautiful books and to create something, each time, that is unique; a memory.
A book binder's responsibility is to help those who want to forget and erase memories. His role is to assist and take these memories and place them in beautiful bindings where the person never has to remember the memory again. I loved the sinister side to the plot, and how the novel really explored the dark side to bookbinding and the manipulation and exploitation used by those who rely on the craft.
Collins’ writing had me hooked very quickly and I especially loved the complex world building she has so wonderfully explored in the book.
The story is divided into three parts. I loved the first and second, but I didn’t fully engage with the final part quite so eagerly. I think it was here that the book became entirely about the romance between Emmett and Lucian (which is great) but it almost felt like a complete shift in genre from the previous focus on the fascinating fantasy elements of the plot. I think that original idea perhaps became a little lost towards the end, as the book became basically just a romance. Maybe I’m a little biased because I really do love a great fantasy read. Despite this, I really welcomed the change of POV in the final part. I sighed with relief when this happened, and felt the writing needed it because I just couldn't handle Emmet's voice for much longer.
I did love the book though. It’s such an interesting and completely original premise that instantly appealed to me. I couldn’t wait to read it, and overall I found it highly entertaining and enjoyable.
It is incredible how Bridget Collins’ book has presented the readers with a number of complex moral questions. Everyone’s mind is full of moments that we wish had never happened. They have hurt us, they still hurt and will go on hurting us. We all have wished for them to disappear and leave us be. However, aren’t these exact moments a part of who we are and will become? They have shaped our course, our principles and our future choices.
The Binding is a fantastic and original story that fully immerses the reader in a past where books are a dangerous and secret commodity, slowly revealing a forbidden love that threatens to destroy Emmet and Lucian. I highly recommend reading it for yourself soon!
Overall reaction:
With The Binding, Bridget Collins has created a beautifully imagined piece of fantasy historical fiction.. But this is also a beautiful love story of a poor farmer's son, Emmet Farmer, and the wealthy, privileged Lucian Darnay, who are doomed to be star crossed lovers. In this world, books take on an entirely different role. Books are for all those things that people feel destroyed by and cannot live with in their lives.
We take memories and bind them. Whatever people can’t bear to remember. Whatever they can’t live with. We take those memories and put them where they can’t do any harm. That’s all books are.’
At the start of the novel, Emmett sets off to be an apprentice as a binder so that one day he can do it himself. In the remote house of his mentor, he will learn to craft beautiful books and to create something, each time, that is unique; a memory.
A book binder's responsibility is to help those who want to forget and erase memories. His role is to assist and take these memories and place them in beautiful bindings where the person never has to remember the memory again. I loved the sinister side to the plot, and how the novel really explored the dark side to bookbinding and the manipulation and exploitation used by those who rely on the craft.
Collins’ writing had me hooked very quickly and I especially loved the complex world building she has so wonderfully explored in the book.
The story is divided into three parts. I loved the first and second, but I didn’t fully engage with the final part quite so eagerly. I think it was here that the book became entirely about the romance between Emmett and Lucian (which is great) but it almost felt like a complete shift in genre from the previous focus on the fascinating fantasy elements of the plot. I think that original idea perhaps became a little lost towards the end, as the book became basically just a romance. Maybe I’m a little biased because I really do love a great fantasy read. Despite this, I really welcomed the change of POV in the final part. I sighed with relief when this happened, and felt the writing needed it because I just couldn't handle Emmet's voice for much longer.
I did love the book though. It’s such an interesting and completely original premise that instantly appealed to me. I couldn’t wait to read it, and overall I found it highly entertaining and enjoyable.
It is incredible how Bridget Collins’ book has presented the readers with a number of complex moral questions. Everyone’s mind is full of moments that we wish had never happened. They have hurt us, they still hurt and will go on hurting us. We all have wished for them to disappear and leave us be. However, aren’t these exact moments a part of who we are and will become? They have shaped our course, our principles and our future choices.
The Binding is a fantastic and original story that fully immerses the reader in a past where books are a dangerous and secret commodity, slowly revealing a forbidden love that threatens to destroy Emmet and Lucian. I highly recommend reading it for yourself soon!
Overall reaction: