The Binding audiobook

if i could bind my memories into a book, i would start with the time i spend reading this. not because i would want to forget, but so that i could always remember. to have something tangible, documenting how spellbound i became by this story. i guess this review will have to suffice. while this story radiates pure magic and enchantment to captivate bookworms everywhere, this is also a stunning love story. its humble and unassuming and so very touching. while i would have loved more world-building and development of how the book binding magic works and how binders are created, i cant find myself willing to fault this because of how enamoured i was with emmett and memories.effectively structured, beautifully written, and heartwarmingly tender, this book is one i never want to forget. ↠ 4.5 stars

We’ve been called witches since the beginning of time. Word-cunning, they used to call it—of a piece with invoking demons…We were burned for it too. The Crusade wasn’t new, we’ve always been scapegoats. Well, knowledge is always a kind of magic, I suppose. Emmett Farmer is a young man with issues. He used to think that he would inherit his family’s farm. It was the life he was used to and the road he expected to follow to, and beyond, the horizon. But he has not been himself lately. His abilities have deteriorated. He loses himself, in time, suffering dizziness, nausea, and weakness. Some say he was cursed by a witch. When he is offered an apprenticeship with a bookbinder, it offers a way out, however frightening the career and his mentor might be. Bridget Collins - image from United Agents, UKDespite some raw similarities, bookbinding in Bridget Collins’s world is not quite the same as it is in ours. Emmett trains with the elderly Seradith, a woman seen as being a witchy sort by some of the locals. In fact, bookbinding is seen as a dodgy sort of work. What is bound in books here are memories. Instead of sharing recollections or stories, as they do in our reality, the memories bound into beautifully crafted leather books in this world are removed from clients by binders. Unlike books in our world, which are designed to be shared, these books are meant to be hidden. Being on the NY Times Top Ten list would kinda defeat the purpose.At least that is the intent. Cheat on your taxes? Pay off your mistress to keep quiet at the height of a political campaign? Sell out your nation’s security in return for real estate consideration by a foreign enemy? Awkward. But there is a solution, well, for part of it, anyway. Go to a binder and the memories will be nicely removed, leaving your tiny mind virginally memory and guilt free, and ready for that sit-down with whoever might be heading an investigation. If memory-cleansing bookbinding existed in our world, I imagine there would be a long line of potential clients. Of course, it might be a challenge to find binders with the innate talent to make those memories move from a client’s brain to the page. One can train in how to work the leather, sew the pages, and do all the material steps entailed in constructing such a book, but only those with a special gift can smooth the passage from one medium to the other. Emmett Farmer, it turns out, has such a gift. It does not help much with tilling fields, but is crucial for this special craft. …the hours passed slowly, full of small, solid details; at home, in the busyness of farm life, I’d never had the time to sit and stare, or pay attention to the way a tool looked, or how well it was made, before I used it. Here the clock in the hall dredged up seconds like stones and dropped them again into the pool of the day, letting each ripple widen before the next one fell. Emmett acclimates to Seradith’s remote locale (out in the marshes), begins to learn the manual end of the binding craft, and is eager to move beyond to learn what bookbinding is really all about (he does not actually know). He is particularly curious about what goes on beyond certain forbidden doors at Seradith’s emporium, but even glancing inside such doors causes him major episodes of what his boss calls Binder’s Disease, costing him days of consciousness and bringing forth strange visions. These strains increase when certain clients arrive. When he finds a book with his name on it, Emmett realizes that he is less than whole.Part Two of the novel is Emmett’s bound story as reported in that book. Part Three returns us to Emmett’s now, and how he deals with what he has learned. More than that about the goings on risks spoiling a key plot twist. But it does touch on forbidden love and the dangers of loving outside one’s class, however that may be defined. The Binding is an engaging page turner of an historical fantasy, particularly the first third, in which we are introduced to Collins’s world, an amalgam of the medieval and circa 1890 rural England. The mystery of Emmett’s affliction is enticing and his experience at Seradith’s is riveting. I found Part Two, Emmett’s bound story, interesting, but nowhere near as gripping. Part three is pretty much a continuation of Part Two, but with Emmett aware of his history, so is more of a cloth with the second than the first part. Not to say that the latter two are not good, just not so fabulous as the opening, in terms of the engagement of the story, at least. In terms of looking at the socio-economic implications of binding, they are wonderful. One fascinating thing is how Collins came up with her concept. She was working as a volunteer at Samaritans, a non-profit that offers people who will listen for people who need to talk. What would it be like if I could reach out and winch that memory from you? She was also taking a book-binding class at the time, and a happy combination was conceived. In setting her story in late 19th century rural England she uses some history of the era to correspond with events in the created reality. For example, the Binding Law of 1850 in Emmett’s world corresponds to the 1850 legalization of gin (I’ll drink to that!) in English law. The Crusades here, for example, were not about perceived Middle Eastern outrages, addressed with European outrages, but were focused on scapegoating binding for the social and economic disruptions brought about by the rise of capitalism. Binders are viewed as women accused of witchcraft have been in our world, dealers in mysterious practices, necessary for providing needed services, but not to be trusted, and maybe evil. There are many novels that use memory loss as a core mechanism. Some elements of these are fairly common. How is memory lost? Literature is rich with examples, usually of the traumatic sort, usually involving violence, typically a blow to the head. These tend to populate books in which memory loss features as a Maguffin for propelling a thriller or mystery. Next down the list is memory lost through illness, typically Alzheimers’ disease. Still Alice fits in there nicely. There are stories in which memory loss is via external misadventure of a broader, science-fictiony sort, things like plagues. The Book of M is a wonderful example. Less populous is the sort in which memory is willingly surrendered, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind pops to mind. (and we elect to keep it there, for now) The Binding relies on the last of these, substituting a bit of magic for the sci-fi explanation offered in Eternal Sunshine. What lifts The Binding above the crowd of memory-loss novels is its consideration of the societal implications of voluntary forgetting. There are complications, of course, and they are wonderfully explored. Some with power want others to forget what they have done. Think of it as an employment contract, or a user agreement for partaking in pretty much any software. You agree to this and that, and such and such, which will entail the surrender of some inalienable rights. Just click agree at the bottom of the mouse-print form. But damn, you need the job, or want to use the software. However, what if what you are surrendering to the seller, or employer, is the right to your own memories? And what if the person in power has done something they would rather you not remember? You might find yourself (or what is left of you) wearing out a path to the binder’s shop for a bit of a memory trim (Boss just sent me over. Says you should just take a bit off the top, please, and close on the sides, ok?) I will leave to your imagination (and the book of course) how such a system might be abused. So, we have an author who looks at political power in a very personal way. Workers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your…wait, what was that again? Continuing the image, what if you are starving and selling your memories as a way to put food on the table, the way many in poverty engage in sex work to make ends meet? Puts me in mind of the Beggarwoman from Sweeney Todd (Hey, don’t I know you, Mister?”) Which of course presumes that there are binders out there with somewhat lower ethical standards than the very righteous Seradith. Shocking, I know. To lift the novel even higher is a parallel consideration, the significance, the power of books themselves, what it means to write a book, to read a book, and to share the experiences of another through the written page. I was reminded of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Book Thief. What if we look at books as a manifestation of self? Not exactly a stretch. Do authors lose a part of themselves when they commit their thoughts to the page? Is reading a book written by someone else a form of voyeurism? Just as in our world, books can be used for benign or malign purposes, books are treated as treasured valuables by some and as a form of personal or mass-produced filth by others. Seradith, essentially, amputates memories, as a physician would take an unhealable limb, a benign act, and saves the bound memory in a beautifully crafted book, kept safe in a vault. Others may make use of such books for corrupt purposes. You, yes you, reading this, you know the power of books, how they can act like a drug, slaking, temporarily, an unquenchable thirst. Very drug-like, no? How about the power of books to heal? Ever read anything that made you feel better? Certainly any well-written memoir can offer one a view of someone’s inner life, but at least in our world, that does not require that the author forget what she has written. Books change lives, whether we read or write them. For writers, a part of themselves definitely finds its way onto the page. And a world in which all books are locked away sounds rather medieval.Collins offers a bit of wry perspective on writing. There’s a growing trade in fakes, you know. Does that concern you?” He paused, but he didn’t seem surprised not to get an answer. “I’ve never seen one—well, as far as I know-but I’m curious. Could one really tell the difference? Novels, they call them. They must be much cheaper to produce. You can copy them, you see. Use the same story over and over, and as long as you’re careful how you sell them, you can get away with it. it makes one wonder who would write them. People who enjoy imagining misery, I suppose. People who have no scruples about dishonesty. People who can spend days writing a long sad lie without going insane…My father, of course, is a connoisseur. He claims that he would know instantly if he saw a novel. He says that a real, authentic book breathes an unmistakable scent of…well. He calls it truth, or life. I think maybe he means despair. I doubt that despair is what you will experience on reading The Binder. This is a marvelous read, a thoughtful, engaging novel, featuring a large dollop of Dickensian social commentary, while following an appealing everyman through the perils of coming of age, and offering in addition insightful observations on memory-as-self and the power of books. I was sure I had something more to say, but I seem to have forgotten what that was. Review Posted – January 4, 2019Publication-----UK – January 10, 2019-----USA – April 16, 2019----------April 21, 2020 - trade paper==========In the summer of 2019 GR reduced the allowable review size by 25%, from 20,000 to 15,000 characters. In order to accommodate the text beyond that I have moved it to the comments section below in what is currently comment #5.

This was a magical and incredibly well written novel. Emmett is sent away by his parents to work as a Binder’s apprentice. If people want certain bad memories to be taken away they can visit a Binder and be ‘bound’. The resulting book is then kept safe so that the person will never have to relive the memories again. But there are certain Binders who sell books, who treat the trade or its patients with zero respect. When Emmett sees a book with his name on, he wonders what secrets it holds. But the only way to unbind a person is to burn their book if you begin to tell someone their secret it can cause awful pain. I loved the characters, the writing is gorgeous and it is a wonderful premise. The only reason it missed 5 stars for me is because the premise didn’t feel brand new to me. I’ve read (view spoiler)[ more happy than not and there are so many similar themes. Don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed both but for 5 stars a book really has to move and or shock me and this one just missed that. I also wish there was a bit more background on some things. Like (view spoiler)[ why wasn’t Emmett’s sister bound? And what is the binders fever that Emmett suffered from? (hide spoiler)] I really enjoyed this and would recommend to fans of magical realism. (hide spoiler)]

If this was a recipe it would be 1 cup romance with a teaspoon of fantasy and a sprinkling of fun . It’s a male to male romance in 1800s I’m guessing though it never specifically says, in a world where all bad memories or anything you want to forget can be binded in a book and stored safely away, or so it is supposed to be. Dun dun dunnn. I liked it I got it as an arc on a giveaways here on goodreads . I started it as soon as it came in the mail.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book binding is an art. A very real one. Collins infused her fictional binders with the additional ability to weave secrets and memories into their end papers, which freed individuals from the burdens of their guilt and fears. But with these life-altering abilities comes the fear of the other and the lurking allure of abusing this bestowed gift.The Binding was a very different story to the one I had anticipated. The synopsis conjured a whimsical and fantastical alternate history. The book, however, held its roots firmly in reality for much of the novel. All it did deliver made my longing for the former vanish entirely, though. What an incredible concept and a compulsively readable story-line!

H O L Y S H I R T B A L L SThis book is my life. I am stunned by how incredible the writing was, how incredible the characters were, how incredible the storyline is. The Binding is such a unique and interesting book, and as are the ideas that fuelled this book. A book about books, and what amazing books they are. Memories, captured and preserved and taken from a person forever. To be used for good or used for evil, this idea is stunning and I loved reading about it. And then there were the characters. The characters in this book were so beautifully described, and though I may have found Emmett annoying at times, what character isn't? Lucias added a whole new part to this book, and the romance? Well damn, I was about half-way through the book and then suddenly my gaydar was tingling and I was like 'am I sensing something here?'. And damn, what a thing that was. I rarely read such beautiful romantic build-ups, and believe me, I read a lot of books.And god, what a relief to not have an intense cliffhanger at the end. Do yourself a favour and read this book.

Well that was incredibly brilliant in every conceivable way. It has genuinely been years since I read a book I enjoyed that much. I highly, highly recommend this one.

A slow start, but I'm so glad to have continued The Binding, as I ended up really enjoying the rest of the story!“May your darkness be quiet and the light come sooner than you need,” ~★~ What is this book about? ~★~ Emmett Farmer is plagued by an illness that renders him nearly useless to his family’s livelihood. When he is requested to be a binder’s apprentice, his family believes this is a chance for Emmett to be of use somewhere. Except binders make books of people’s memories they wish to forget- which is why books are forsaken. Emmett knows nothing of binding, and wants nothing to do with the craft, though it seems like the only option left for him. ~★~It was hard for me to connect with this story in the beginning. The intricate descriptions and vague plot set-up had my attention dwindling. I actually considering putting The Binding down, but thankfully I pushed through, and by part two I was hooked!The main thing that captivated me was the characters. Emmett was enticing in his mystery; I loved uncovering bits of his lost past in the same moments he did. The romance was heartbreaking and lovely, taking up a greater portion of this story than I could have anticipated. Thankfully it was well written and unraveled wonderfully!For first person narrative, the writing was surprisingly poignant and graceful. The atmosphere and setting was developed particularly well, I had no trouble establishing the world of The Binding in my head. This unique prose held an incredible amount of potential, and while most of it was delivered well, I was left wanting a tad more in terms of plot. I wished for more information on binding and its history, though otherwise this was a great book.

I got bound.Ouuff, what a story! I was utterly spellbound from the very first words. In this universe where books are dangerous, love is passionate and stories are realities; i lost myself. If only i could bind those past two days of reading this story into a book i would; not to forget but to always remember it. I see myself re/reading this in the future because i would want to feel everything all over again.Go in blind, and get spellbound - in every literal sense to the word.

** spoiler alert ** SPOILERS AHEAD I loved this! And the gays get a happy ending!!!! 2019 is treating us good!!Emmett is a sick young man, but he is handed off by his parents to a binder - a woman who can take traumatic memories and bind them in books to make you forget. She has specifically requested Emmett as her apprentice.Emmett is a conflicted, flawed but wonderful young man with good morals. Lucian is a trapped middle class brat who wants what he can’t have due to his social standing.It is a overlapping book of thematic schemes but they are woven beautifully together in this novel.I loved this book. The plot, the way the plot developed, the well rounded and fleshed out characters, amazing start to the year!

I meant to write an actual review a couple days ago already, but I'm still lacking the words for the time being.All I know is that this is one of these rare, magical books that pulled me in to take a piece of my heart and never give it back again.It's almost impossible for most readers, me included, to name just one book when asked about a favorite title. But this one has definitely made it onto the short list I usually give people.

The Binding, Bridget Collins's first adult novel, is a book full of wonderful magic and searing heartache. A special hybrid of fantasy and historical fiction, it is a sumptuous and emotional affair which is substantial in its sincerity and exquisite in its writing. The premise, that memories you wis