Published: 10th January 2019 Publisher: The borough Press
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Paperback, Audio, MP3 cd Genre: Historical Fiction
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 mentors workshop, row upon row of books, and memories are meticulously stored and recorded. Then one day Emmett makes an astounding discovery, one of them has his name on it.. My Review...
This novel is an unforgettable, magical, boundary-defying love story.. I was completely smitten with this book and when I found out what Emmett’s lost memory was my heart was completely taken over with finding out how it ended..
Set in the 1700/1800's Told over three parts ... Now, Then and Now again, you get to really be thrown into the story.
Part One starts with Emmett at home with his parents and sister, Alta on there farm.
Something has happened to Emmett but he isn't sure what, he just knows he hasn't been well but no one is telling him what has happened.
What he does know is that he has gone from being a health strong young man to a weak boy who can no longer take over the farm as his parents intended, now he has to go and stay with an old woman,Seredith known as a Binder, he is to be her apprentice.
Books are forbidden, looked down upon by the town folk as they hold peoples memories inside them, if there is something you want to forget then you can visit a binder and they will remove that memory and store it into a book forever. The memory will be forgotten, never to return, as long as the book is kept safe.
Emmett is sent to the old lady and there he forms a strange bond, learning her craft but it is not one he wants easily.
Moving on, something happens and Emmett is sent out by the old binders son to do a binding from a maid in a rich house, it is here that Emmett meets a young man called Lucian Darney, he recognises him but can not place him, he to seems to feel the same but is angered by his confusion. He is the house owners nephew.
Emmett Binds the poor young maid, taking away her horrid memories of being raped repeatedly by the old man of the house and as Emmett is packing away, extremely disturbed by his first binding session, he comes across a book with his name on, confused he throws the book into the fire and is ravaged with a pain and ache that he has never felt...
Part two is the lost memory. Of Emmett and his younger sister Alta happy at the farm working side by side until she meets Lucian and brings him to meet Emmett.
Alta and Lucian strike up a romance and Emmett, whilst tagging along that summer feels very much like the third wheel, and he can not understand why he has so much hatred for Lucian, regardless of how well he treats his sister.
As the summer moves on Emmett realises he is in love with Lucian and that Lucian feels the same way, they fall in love and have a romantic heart rendering affair until Lucians uncle finds out.
He has them both bound and with that starts part three.
Part Three is Emmett trying his hardest to make Lucian see that they have been bound, as Lucian still doesn't have his memories back.
This story is utterly breathtaking and so very tragically beautiful.
I have tried very hard not to give to many spoilers away, hence my brief part three description as I hate spoilers..
This is a must read.
I can not recommend this beautiful story enough. Utterly spellbinding
★★★★ ★
Pre-order/Purchase Links
ABOUT THE AUTHOR...
Bridget Collins trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art after reading English at King's College, Cambridge. She is the author of seven acclaimed books for young adults and has had two plays produced, one at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The Binding is her first adult novel.
Connect with Bridget Collins..
More books by this author..
Similar reads like this one are..
Blackberry and Wild Rose by Sonia Velton
The Song Of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Comments