At the same time, I was working as a volunteer with the Samaritans, a suicide crisis helpline, and I heard some very traumatic stories. I just fell in love with it, with the materials (coloured papers, leather, cloth, gold) and the tools – it was all so tactile and lovely! And I loved the way the processes haven’t changed for centuries, which made me feel very close to the bookbinders of the past. The first was doing a bookbinding course.

I think there were two things that planted seeds for The Binding.

But the heart of the book is a love story between two people who meet, fall in love, betray and forget each other – but not necessarily in that order! What inspired the idea behind the novel? So it’s about memory and identity, of course, and about how the stories we tell ourselves define who we are. He knows from his family’s reaction that there’s something a bit sinister and taboo about books, but it’s only as he spends time at the bindery that he discovers that books are really people’s memories, taken away and bound to keep them safe. Thank you so much! It’s set in the late nineteenth century, and it’s about Emmett, a young man who’s grown up on a farm, but he’s had a mysterious illness and can’t work any more – so when he’s summoned to be the apprentice to the local bookbinder he feels he has to go. Read our full review of The Binding here The Binding is an unforgettable, magical novel, and a boundary-defying love story. She is the author of seven acclaimed books for young adults and has had two plays produced, one at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Bridget Collins trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art after reading English at King’s College, Cambridge.

The binding collins