Non-spoiler review.
by Sonali Dutta
Rewriting the past, normally in the form of time travel, is a common trope in fantasy literature. Bridget Collins explores this in a new way through book binding in her new novel The Binding. Our protagonist, Emmet Farmer, is from a rural family and is recovering from a mysterious illness at the opening of the novel. He has lived a simple life, yet one day is summoned to become a apprentice to a bookbinder. Books in this world are created by removing a person’s memories to create a physical object of what has happened to them. As the novel progresses, teenage Emmet is surprised to find a binding with his own name on it.
The cover of the hardback book (my photo above can’t do it justice!) is really beautiful. The natural images of plants link to Emmet’s upbrining in the countryside, and the metallic key nods to the art of binding. I particularly like how the shots of gold stand out against the duller colours, hinting at the magic in the story.
Emmet is an apprentice to Seradith, who is an elderly woman that the local community consider a witch. As he learns more about the practice of binding, he sees that is can be used in a positive way to help someone move on from distressing memories. Emmet soon crosses paths with a wealthy aristocrat, Lucian, with whom there is an instant hatred.
Although the time period is not specificed, Emmet’s world is clearly one set in the past at a time where farming methods were still old-fashioned, and the new was viewed with distrust and fear. The most marked difference is that reading and creating books is seen as a kind of witchcraft. Emmet recalls not being allowed to read books in his childhood. We explore the benefits and disadvantages, as well as power plays, that come from being able to manipulate a person’s past. Collins’s sets her novel in a fully immersive world and her characters, Emmet and Lucian especially, have depth and are fully fleshed-out. We clearly get a feeling of the time period and
The novel is divided into three parts. The first part is slow-moving and builds atmosphere, whereas the second and third parts seem to move more quickly and has more tension. While it took me a longer time to read the first part, I raced through the next two as the narrative was more suspenseful and moved rapidly. The use of multiple narrators is deftly handled. While Collins writes well and the prose is very readable, the book did feel overly long and the number of words could have been safely cut down without harming the feel of the text. Collins succeeds in marrying the magic of fantasy with the specific feel of historical fiction. There’s could be a danger of the fanastical aspects clashing or seeming at odds with the antiquated setting of the novel. However the magical elements are woven into the narrative seamlessly, and never seemed tacked on or awkward to the story. The brand of magic here is subtle and realistic: there aren’t any dragons or spells but there seems to be a particular process some characters are gifted with. There’s only one depiction of binding in the text. While it may have been nice to learn more about the process, the scant details do provide mystery and enables us to understand why some characters distrust binders. This doesn’t seem very different to the dislike of science, technology and electricity clashing against the belief in religion in the past.
The Binding is a well-written literary novels that straddles across fantasy and historical fiction. The prose is easy to read, but perhaps the novel is overall a few hundred words too long. I’d recommend The Binding for fans of historical fiction or anyone wanting to read a thought-provoking novel.
Teaspoon of Sunshine 