The most captivating novel of 2019 ‘Utterly brilliant’ Joanna Cannon ‘Truly spellbinding’ Guardian ‘Pure magic’ Erin Kelly ‘A real treat’ The Times ‘Gorgeous' Stella Duffy ‘Astounding’ Anna Mazzola Imagine you could erase your grief. Imagine you could forget your pain. Imagine you could hide a secret. Forever. Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a letter arrives summoning him to begin an apprenticeship. He will work for a Bookbinder, a vocation that arouses fear, superstition and prejudice – but one neither he nor his parents can afford to refuse. He will learn to hand-craft beautiful volumes, and within each he will capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory. If there’s something you want to forget, he can help. If there’s something you need to erase, he can assist. Your past will be stored safely in a book and you will never remember your secret, however terrible. In a vault under his mentor’s workshop, row upon row of books – and memories – are meticulously stored and recorded. Then one day Emmett makes an astonishing discovery: one of them has his name on it. THE BINDING is an unforgettable, magical novel: a boundary-defying love story and a unique literary event.