Book Review: The Binding by Bridget Collins
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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.
The Binding by Bridget Collins is a true love story with a twist. It’s nothing like I imagined it would be. It’s so much better and a must read for modern day book lovers.
Emmett Farmer works on the family farm along with his parents and his sister, Alta.
One day Emmett’s father finds Emmett with a book. His father is angry and takes the book from Emmett, telling him that he’s not to ever touch one again. Emmett doesn’t understand what he’s done wrong. He doesn’t understand why books are deemed to be bad.
One day whilst out with his sister, Alta wanders off and falls through the ice of a frozen over lake. Emmett runs to her rescue, but he’s beaten to it by a boy named Lucian Darnay.
Alta and Lucian soon strike up a likeness for one another that appears to develop into a relationship. However, not all is at seems.
I really like the way in which this book is written. It starts out following Emmett’s journey to become a book binder. Under the care of a lady named Seredith, Emmett is her apprentice. Seredith teaches Emmett in her own unique way how to bind.
Emmett learns that binding books means sealing away people memories within the pages of these books. Memories that people want to forget. Their books are then stored securely away forever, or so they should be. However, some books end up in the wrong hands are sold and traded for other people’s entertainment.
The second part of the book goes back to Emmett’s childhood where Alta falls through the ice and they meet Lucian. In this part of the book we learn about the relationship between Emmett and his sister Alta, and Alta’s relationship with Lucian. We follow their journey, but it doesn’t lead where you may expect it to.
The final part of the book brings up to today. Emmett discovers a book with his name on it and it gets burnt in a fire meaning that all of Emmett’s lost memories come flooding back to him. It’s a race against time for Emmett to reveal the truth to those that matter.
I absolutely love this book so much. The story was not at all what I expected it to be about and I think that’s why I enjoyed it even more than I thought it would.
Have you read The Binding? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
