The Binding

SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019

' Brilliant ' Joanna Cannon
' Spellbinding ' Guardian
' Magic ' Erin Kelly
' Immersive ' Sunday Times
' Gorgeous ' Stella Duffy
' Astounding ' Anna Mazzola

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.

THE BINDING is an unforgettable, magical novel: a boundary-defying love story and a unique literary event.