I Really Enjoyed this Book,The Story Really Draws you In,it Is Full of Intrigue and Mystery,also Deception ,and a Time in Society were when People High on The Social Scale Feel they can Abuse Their Servant's.Well Worth Reading

I was so lucky to receive an advanced reading copy of this utterly beguiling novel, and having fallen head over heels in love, persuaded (read: forcibly commanded) several of my colleagues to read it. Needless to say it had the same effect on them. We are now seceding from Waterstones to become a Binding fan club; there will be team jackets and everything. Approach any bookseller in the Basingstoke branch with this book and they will clutch their hands to their breast with joy and exhort you to read it immediately. Really, for your own good, if you are a book-loving soul who likes a bit of historical magical realism, a gripping mystery, unrequited heartache, or just a flipping beautiful piece of publishing design, GET THEE TO THE BOOKSHOP!

If you judge a book by it’s cover, this one is simply beautiful. A shining light of great magnitude. A book about books. Binding is an art, taking memories and hiding them. A story of love, desire, mixing fantasy and historical fiction. It will appeal to many. Your darkest fears can become reality. Bridget Collins has woven an intricate web like no other.

Another 5 star read. Brilliant concept, masterfully told. We're taken to a time when books are forbidden, as books are dangerous. When Emmett Farmer is apprenticed away from his parent's farm to become a book binder, he wonders why, of all people, he should be chosen. He's only ever read one book and when his father found him with it it was the only time he remembered his father striking him. Hewas born to be a farmer, so why is he being sent away without any protestations form his family? There was the time when he was ill and lashed out but surely that wasn't his fault, he can't remember doing it, he can't have been aware. Is this a punishment? As Emmett slowly learns the secrets of the binding trade he realises why books can be so dangerous. These are people's memories. His mistress only ever takes them from people that give their consent, taking memories they wish to forget, wiping the slate clean for their own mental well being. When his mistress dies however, he sees others that abuse the trade. Taking memories from unwilling particpants so that they can be repeatedly taken advantage of. Lucien, the son of a prominant client who uses binders for this exact purpose puts Emmett on edge. He can't quite name the feelings he has when he meets the eyes of this apparent stranger. Lucien's father is an illegal collector of bindings, holding people's memories in his private library, poring over the sordid little details of lives forgotten. When Emmett, on a routine binding finds a volume with his own name on it, he manages to aquire it from Lucian in a tussle, where it burns, giiving him back massive chunks of his life he had not previously known existed. This is the catalyst for the rest of the novel, delving into Emmett's past, and revealing that the two young men have a previously unknown past. I'll stop here for fear of revealing the wjhole storyline, but it is a must read for lovers of fantasy, and for those that believe in the magic of books. Highly recommended. 5 stars.

I really enjoyed this fantastical moral tale. I decided early on in the book what might be happening but was a bit askew. Very nicely written and the sense of atmosphere and human frailty was equally magical.