East Markham Book Club
The Binding
by Bridget Collins
by Bridget Collins
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.
Next Meeting Sunday 22nd January 2023 at 7.30pm
Club Opinion
The overall consensus was that the book had a really readable style, flowed well and the majority enjoyed it. Some felt it glossed over the ‘binding’ part and it could have been more interesting if that had been addressed in more depth. It was agreed that the plot was fairly predictable, but no one really minded.
