The Bookbinder
A Novel
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words.
“Williams spins an immersive and compelling tale, sweeping us back to the Oxford she painted so expertly in The Dictionary of Lost Words.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife
It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who live on a narrow boat in Oxford and work in the bindery at the university press.
Ambitious, intelligent Peggy has been told for most of her life that her job is to bind the books, not read them—but as she folds and gathers pages, her mind wanders to the opposite side of Walton Street, where the female students of Oxford’s Somerville College have a whole library at their fingertips. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has: to spend her days folding the pages of books in the company of the other bindery girls. She is extraordinary but vulnerable, and Peggy feels compelled to watch over her.
Then refugees arrive from the war-torn cities of Belgium, sending ripples through the Oxford community and the sisters’ lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can educate herself and use her intellect, not just her hands. But as war and illness reshape her world, her love for a Belgian soldier—and the responsibility that comes with it—threaten to hold her back.
The Bookbinder is a story about knowledge—who creates it, who can access it, and what truths get lost in the process. Much as she did in the international bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams thoughtfully explores another rarely seen slice of history through women’s eyes.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Williams returns (after The Dictionary of Lost Words) with a moving coming-of-age historical set in England during WWI. Peggy Jones, 21, works in the bindery at Oxford University Press, where she reads tantalizing snatches of Shakespeare and Homer while folding, gathering, and sewing together the pages. When war refugees arrive in Oxford from Belgium, Peggy befriends Lotte, a former librarian from Louvain, who joins her at the bindery. While reading and writing letters for wounded soldiers being cared for on the campus, Peggy gets to know a handsome Belgian named Bastiaan, and they fall in love. Meanwhile, an entitled student and a sympathetic college librarian encourage Peggy to prepare for and take the rigorous Somerville College admission exam, and her supervisor helps her see that her twin sister, Maude, who has a developmental disability, will thrive if afforded more independence, which in turn frees Peggy to pursue a more fulfilling life for herself. Authentic period details and intriguing glimpses into the bookbinding process add to Williams's portrayal of resilient women. This would make a riveting costume drama for the large or small screen.
