JUNE 2019 - AudioFile
Carl Prekopp’s narration takes the listener to a world in which people’s memories are voluntarily removed and bound into books. The lives of Emmett Farmer, a young man who was born with the sacred skill of bookbinding, and Lucian Darnay, the only son of a wealthy family with noble ties, are intertwined in ways neither can recall. Prekopp’s performance draws the listener deeply into the story. Deliberate pacing choices reflect the characters’ lives at specific moments, and various accents further bring them to life. This audiobook demonstrates Prekopp’s storytelling skills, though some scattered production issues can be distracting. Overall, this is a compelling listen. A.L.S.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
02/25/2019
Collins’s solid first adult novel (following several YA novels) is a haunted, Dickensian fantasia. At the story’s outset, teenage Emmett is a farmer’s son in an alternate England at an indeterminate point in the past whose mind is riddled with gaps due to an unspecified illness. He receives a letter that calls him for an apprenticeship with a bookbinder, Seredith, who’s reputed to be a witch. Emmett quickly discovers that Seredith is not your run-of-the-mill bookbinder: she draws traumatic memories out of people’s minds and hides them away in books, thereby removing the memories from their minds. The first client Emmett meets is a man named Lucian Darnay; their encounters unsettle and even enrage both of them, but neither knows why. Emmett eventually discovers there is a book with his name on it, and it holds an essential secret about him. The relationship between Emmett and Lucian plays out satisfyingly, but the novel suffers from portentous conversations and a few plot points that the characters don’t realistically react to. Emmett is a YA protagonist, too—sullen, reluctant, wrapped in victimhood. This is an enjoyable novel for readers of any age, but the story remains YA at its heart. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
Intense, immersive. . . . A stirring, highly original piece of storytelling and world-making.” — Sunday Times (UK)
“Bookbinders capture souls in this fantasy’s bleak Dickensian world. The novel’s most horrifying victim is the starving mother who doesn’t recognize her children because she had to sell her memories of them.” — New York Times, “10 New Books We Recommend This Week”
“The Binding is a dark chocolate slice of cake with a surprising, satisfying seam of raspberry running through it. It is a rich, gothic entertainment that explores what books have trapped inside them and reminds us of the power of storytelling. Spellbinding.” — Tracy Chevalier, bestselling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring
“The Binding succeeds in creating the magic it proposes: the experience of memory returning, a rush of recollection that can change the whole world, if only for one person at a time — or sometimes two.” — Naomi Novik, The New York Times Book Review
“Everyone keeps calling this novel spell ~binding~ and they! are! not! wrong! A true epic in every sense of the word.” — Cosmopolitan
“The Binding held me captive from the start and refused to set me free. It’s a beautifully crafted tale of dark magic and forbidden passion, where unspeakable cruelty is ultimately defeated by enduring love. Breathtaking!” — Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost Things
“Pure magic. The kind of immersive storytelling that makes you forget your own name. I wish I had written it.” — Erin Kelly, author of He Said/She Said
“Truly spellbinding... Many readers of The Binding will simply sink gratefully into the pleasures of its pages, because, like all great fables, it also functions as transporting romance.” — The Guardian
“A captivating fantasy novel with forbidden love at its heart.” — Good Housekeeping (UK)
“The new ‘Have you read The Miniaturist’ will be ‘Have you read The Binding?’ … ‘Gorgeous’ and ‘spellbinding’ is the consensus among those who’ve already devoured it.” — Grazia, “The 2019 Hot List”
“More of an experience than a book, written with such grace and wisdom. Utterly brilliant.” — Joanna Cannon, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep
“An original concept, beautifully written. Collins’ prose is spellbinding.” — Laura Purcell, author of The Silent Companions
“A moving, spellbinding book with a powerful love story at its heart and one of the best twists I’ve read in a long time. I fell into and inhabited and loved it. Such a deeply enjoyable and nourishing novel.” — Sandra Newman, author of The Heavens
“Intriguing, thought-provoking and heartbreaking … what a gorgeous book.” — Stella Duffy
“Beguiling … Dark and atmospheric.” — inews.co.uk
“What an astounding book … something entirely of its own. Brilliant concept, truly extraordinary writing and a killer plot.” — Anna Mazzola, author of The Unseeing
“A compulsive mix of historical and gothic fiction.” — Wiltshire Living
“A real treat . . . gothic, imaginative and dark.” — The Times (UK)
“Beguiling and mysterious … dark and atmospheric … The Binding is the kind of novel that practically demands fireside reading.” — The Herald (Glasgow)
“Using evocative language to express a lovingly told tale of lost memories, Collins wraps her story of a passionate, forbidden relationship in mystery and magic.” — Booklist
“The Binding is an imaginative, thought-provoking tale of how—for better and worse—moments can define who we become.” — BookPage
Sunday Times (UK)
Intense, immersive. . . . A stirring, highly original piece of storytelling and world-making.
Cosmopolitan
Everyone keeps calling this novel spell ~binding~ and they! are! not! wrong! A true epic in every sense of the word.
Tracy Chevalier
The Binding is a dark chocolate slice of cake with a surprising, satisfying seam of raspberry running through it. It is a rich, gothic entertainment that explores what books have trapped inside them and reminds us of the power of storytelling. Spellbinding.
The Guardian
Truly spellbinding... Many readers of The Binding will simply sink gratefully into the pleasures of its pages, because, like all great fables, it also functions as transporting romance.
Naomi Novik
The Binding succeeds in creating the magic it proposes: the experience of memory returning, a rush of recollection that can change the whole world, if only for one person at a time — or sometimes two.
“The 2019 Hot List” Grazia
The new ‘Have you read The Miniaturist’ will be ‘Have you read The Binding?’ … ‘Gorgeous’ and ‘spellbinding’ is the consensus among those who’ve already devoured it.
New York Times
Bookbinders capture souls in this fantasy’s bleak Dickensian world. The novel’s most horrifying victim is the starving mother who doesn’t recognize her children because she had to sell her memories of them.
Ruth Hogan
The Binding held me captive from the start and refused to set me free. It’s a beautifully crafted tale of dark magic and forbidden passion, where unspeakable cruelty is ultimately defeated by enduring love. Breathtaking!
Good Housekeeping (UK)
A captivating fantasy novel with forbidden love at its heart.
Erin Kelly
Pure magic. The kind of immersive storytelling that makes you forget your own name. I wish I had written it.
Sandra Newman
A moving, spellbinding book with a powerful love story at its heart and one of the best twists I’ve read in a long time. I fell into and inhabited and loved it. Such a deeply enjoyable and nourishing novel.
Joanna Cannon
More of an experience than a book, written with such grace and wisdom. Utterly brilliant.
BookPage
The Binding is an imaginative, thought-provoking tale of how—for better and worse—moments can define who we become.
Laura Purcell
An original concept, beautifully written. Collins’ prose is spellbinding.
The Times (UK)
A real treat . . . gothic, imaginative and dark.
Wiltshire Living
A compulsive mix of historical and gothic fiction.
The Herald (Glasgow)
Beguiling and mysterious … dark and atmospheric … The Binding is the kind of novel that practically demands fireside reading.
Anna Mazzola
What an astounding book … something entirely of its own. Brilliant concept, truly extraordinary writing and a killer plot.
inews.co.uk
Beguiling … Dark and atmospheric.
Stella Duffy
Intriguing, thought-provoking and heartbreaking … what a gorgeous book.
Booklist
Using evocative language to express a lovingly told tale of lost memories, Collins wraps her story of a passionate, forbidden relationship in mystery and magic.
Cosmopolitan
Everyone keeps calling this novel spell ~binding~ and they! are! not! wrong! A true epic in every sense of the word.
Booklist
Using evocative language to express a lovingly told tale of lost memories, Collins wraps her story of a passionate, forbidden relationship in mystery and magic.
The-Herald (Glasgow)
Beguiling and mysterious … dark and atmospheric … The Binding is the kind of novel that practically demands fireside reading.
Glasgow Herald
Beguiling and mysterious … dark and atmospheric … The Binding is the kind of novel that practically demands fireside reading.
Library Journal
★ 03/01/2019
Books are dangerous things in Collins's alternate universe, a place vaguely reminiscent of 19th-century England. It's a world in which people visit book binders to rid themselves of painful or treacherous memories. Once their stories have been told and are bound between the pages of a book, the slate is wiped clean and their memories lose the power to hurt or haunt them. After having suffered some sort of mental collapse and no longer able to keep up with his farm chores, Emmett Farmer is sent to the workshop of one such binder to live and work as her apprentice. Leaving behind home and family, Emmett slowly regains his health while learning the binding trade. He is forbidden to enter the locked room where books are stored, so he spends many months marbling end pages, tooling leather book covers, and gilding edges. But his curiosity is piqued by the people who come and go from the inner sanctum, and the arrival of the lordly Lucian Darnay, with whom he senses a connection, changes everything. VERDICT With astonishing unpredictability, YA novelist Collins enters the adult arena with a spellbinding blend of history, mystery and fantasy. [See Prepub Alert, 10/15/18.]—Barbara Love, formerly with Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont.
JUNE 2019 - AudioFile
Carl Prekopp’s narration takes the listener to a world in which people’s memories are voluntarily removed and bound into books. The lives of Emmett Farmer, a young man who was born with the sacred skill of bookbinding, and Lucian Darnay, the only son of a wealthy family with noble ties, are intertwined in ways neither can recall. Prekopp’s performance draws the listener deeply into the story. Deliberate pacing choices reflect the characters’ lives at specific moments, and various accents further bring them to life. This audiobook demonstrates Prekopp’s storytelling skills, though some scattered production issues can be distracting. Overall, this is a compelling listen. A.L.S.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2019-02-04
Collins' dystopian novel is set in an alternate England at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.
In the absence of specific dates, this novel suggests its period with various clues: small farms, no plumbing, gaslight, horse-drawn carriages, factories but no trains. The backdrop is a Crusade that, indeterminate decades ago, caused books to be, if not entirely forbidden, then tightly regulated and socially taboo. Emmett is sent by his farmer parents to be apprenticed to an elderly Bookbinder named Seredith, who practices her craft in an isolated house near a marsh. Recently, Emmett suffered an illness which marked him as unfit for anything but binding, which, he rapidly learns, means more than handcrafting books. Customers come to Seredith to have their memories wiped of disturbing experiences through confessions she then enshrines in beautifully bound books and locks up. One such patron/patient is Lucian, a young gentleman who will figure—or has figured; we won't know until later—significantly in Emmett's life. There is a brisk underground trade in true bindings, as opposed to mere novels, and unscrupulous binders exploit this market. Among them is Mr. de Havilland, Seredith's son, who, after her suspicious death, appropriates her stock of secret bindings, which, like loaded guns, will make explosive appearances later. He also takes charge of Emmett. The middle section, in which Emmett is back on the farm with his parents and his sister, Alta, is a flashback in which we learn the source of Emmett's ailment and also more about the peasant culture that seems to hearken back to Britain's pre-Christian age. Except for the fact that a corrupt binder's wares play a role, the concluding section, told from Lucian's point of view, presents a mostly fact-based dystopia of Victorian aristocracy and its excesses. The worldview of this novel is bleak, but readers will not fail to appreciate the many sly analogies to the true-story-obsessed publishing world of today.
Though set in an alternate universe, Collins' fictional world rings very true.
