[Review] The Binding by Bridget Collins

The Binding by Bridget Collins

Rating: 3.5 stars

Format: ARC

Goodreads Synopsis: 

Imagine you could erase grief.Imagine you could remove pain.Imagine you could hide the darkest, most horrifying secret.Forever.
Young Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a strange letter arrives summoning him away from his family. He is to begin an apprenticeship as a Bookbinder—a vocation that arouses fear, superstition, and prejudice among their small community but one neither he nor his parents can afford to refuse.
For as long as he can recall, Emmett has been drawn to books, even though they are strictly forbidden. Bookbinding is a sacred calling, Seredith informs her new apprentice, and he is a binder born. Under the old woman’s watchful eye, Emmett learns to hand-craft the elegant leather-bound volumes. Within each one they will capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory. If there’s something you want to forget, a binder can help. If there’s something you need to erase, they can assist. Within the pages of the books they create, secrets are concealed and the past is locked away. In a vault under his mentor’s workshop, rows upon rows of books are meticulously stored.
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.

To have something wrenched out of the deepest part of you - how did that feel? And afterwards, when you had a hole inside you... I saw again the blankness in Milly's eyes as she left, and clenched my jaw. What 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 having pins and needles in your soul...
Emmett Farmer lives in a world where books are considered taboo, because within them is the ability to hide one's worse memory. That's where book binders come in, binding memories for people into novels. He's thrust into this path without notice, sent to apprentice with an elderly book binder by the name of Seredith. But there are some secrets book binding can't hide...

This is going to be a pretty short review.

This was an eloquently written read, addressing serious issues and dark secrets with tact. I especially enjoyed the growth and development from Lucian and Emmett, watching it unfold over the pages. Their backstory coupled with their relationship was just so tender and sweet.

Plus, the world building was pretty great, flowing from one plot point to another with ease.


I think I was just thrown off by the beginning of the novel, which is so disconnected from the rest of the book. The beginning gave me the impression that the story would be more of a typical adventure-esque story, an A to B to C sort of plotline. Which was fine with me, but by the second part the romance hit me from left field and the characters from before (Seredith especially) were left behind, with no mention or connection to them for the rest of the story. Even Seredith's connection to her son, de Havilland, could have been further expanded upon. And as unpleasant as de Havilland was, he only appeared to be a plot device that was killed off at a convenience point.

The expectation I was left with at the beginning of the novel kind of left me feeling winded and incomplete for the rest of the book. Still, The Binding operates fine enough as a standalone.