The Binding

Yes it was a thumbs up to this intriguing novel from most of the group. A couple gave up reading early on, others felt it was a tad long but those of us who finished the book thoroughly enjoyed it and intend to read the author’s latest book The Betrayals. Like another of our recent reads Wakenhyrst, we felt the period, names of the characters and marsh and city settings enhanced the mysterious atmosphere of the book. The historical period was also crucial for the story to work as modern society is now much more discerning about mediumship and the supernatural.

We all agreed that the story wasn’t what we were expecting. From the back cover description we thought that Emmett would do more binding and that ultimately it was a love story. Misunderstood and full of integrity Seredith was by far our favourite character. Unlike her son she provided binding as a service to help others rather than for profit. We wanted to know more about her life so wondered if a prequel is in the offing! We also wanted to know what happened to Alta and her parents.

The author’s inspiration for the novel came from her experiences volunteering at The Samaritans whilst learning the craft of binding. We all felt it would be wonderful to have the power to capture and absolve the painful memories of those who had experienced trauma. However our experiences – both good and bad – help shape us so we wouldn’t be tempted to undergo binding ourselves. Characters in the book who had been bound seemed to be left feeling empty or became “stuck” as a shell of their former selves so not a quick fix to happiness. We also chatted about how differently binding was accessed by the poor and wealthy in the novel. The rich seemed to use it to facilitate and excuse criminal behaviour and to absolve sins, whilst the poor were forced to undergo binding to keep quiet.

One of us struggled with the switch to Lucian’s narrative in the last part of the novel but it helped us to develop more empathy with his character as we learned more about his childhood and life with his sadistic father. Most of us found him brash and duplicitous at first. We liked how the relationship between Emmett and Lucian developed throughout the story –never the main focus, just beautifully intertwined with the concept of binding. One of us had a “light bulb” moment during the dancing scene, others spotted a few earlier sown seeds.

When asking everyone about parallels between the popularity of trade bindings in the novel and modern taste for celebrity news there was a resounding absolutely! We decided everyone is nosy and why social media and reality TV are such a part of our lives.

So another great read with so much to talk about.

We all really enjoyed this read which was a very different one for us. It kept us guessing all the way through and we liked the way the author kept snippets of information back from the reader so it was quite a way into the book before we learnt what 'Binding' fully meant. Part supernatural, part adventure with a little bit of romance, we really liked and felt for the protagonists and found the way the story was told was really effective.

Absolutely loved this book. The concept of binding people's memories in books underlies a very emotional story involving two young men, one of whom is a Binder. The author uses an unusual time scheme which adds interest and complexity to the novel. Highly recommended.
Thank you to BookSwap Durham for the copy of the book.