Published in 2019 by The Borough Press.
“Who the hell are you?"
"I'm the witch's apprentice. Who the hell are you?”
Blurb: Emmett Farmer is a binder's apprentice. His job is to hand-craft beautiful books and, within each, to capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory. If you have something you want to forget, or a secret to hide, he can bind it- and you will never have to remember the pain it caused. Ina vault under his mentor's workshop, row upon row of books- and secrets - are meticulously stored and recorded. Then one day Emmett makes an astonishing discovery: one of the volumes has his name on it.
My thoughts:
Books are dangerous, they hide the painful memories that people have paid handsomely to forget. The main character Emmett is suddenly ill, he doesn't know why, until he goes to a binder in the marshes, who reveals his true purpose. It is after this moment that Emmett is set on a path of remembering and finding what he once lost.
I can now fully understand the hype that surrounds this book. I became utterly bewitched by Bridget Collins's writing, it was magical alongside the plot and characters who truly sucked you in. As well as being a story of how powerful books really are, it was also a beautiful love story between Emmett Farmer and Lucian Darnay. The narrative switches in certain points of the novel and I found I took to Emmett's voice more than Lucian's, but that's just personal preference. It also switches in time, moving to the present and then to the past, answering to Emmett's fragmented mind and his illness, which was done very well, a lot of authors struggle with this, but I found the switch smooth and clear, rather than jarring and confusing.
The short yet essential time Emmett has with Seredith (his master) is bittersweet. Both characters seem to struggle at first showing kindness or gratitude towards each other but in small, unexpected moments their relationship is fiercely loyal. As a bookbinder, she seems to be the only bookbinder of moral standing, realising that binding should no be done for profit but to help those in deep misery. Combined with Collins's exceptional descriptions and wonderful sense of magical realism in 19th century England, it felt very similar to Deborah Harkness's gift of magical realism.
What I did find a little disappointing was the fact that Emmett's binding journey seemed muted with the love story of himself and Lucien. I wanted to see more of his binding talent developing, I wanted to know more about the mysterious power as his abilities were always spoken so highly of within the early stages of the book. That was the only thing that I'd say left me feeling unsatisfied. But the love story was brilliantly done, it broke the social standards and the class system of the world it was set, so despite feeling unsatisfied with one element, this made up for it.
I would highly recommend this book!
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