Young Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a strange letter arrives summoning him away from his family. He is to begin an apprenticeship as a Bookbinder—a vocation arousing fear, superstition, and prejudice amongst his small community. Bookbinding is a sacred art, Seredith informs her new apprentice, that he is a binder born. Under the old woman’s watchful eye, Emmett learns to hand-craft the elegant leather-bound volumes. With each binding they will capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory. If there’s something you want to forget, a binder can help. But while Seredith is an artisan, there are other bookbinders, greedy and amoral tradesman who use their talents for dark ends. Just as Emmett begins to settle into his new circumstances, he makes an astonishing discovery: one of the books has his name on it. Soon, everything he thought he understood about his life will be dramatically rewritten.
Check it out in the Popular Reading Collection!