The Bookbinder: A Novel

I was initially drawn to this book because I find bookbinding interesting and tend to enjoy books about books. What I got instead was an incredible portrait of women in and from Oxford during World War I. The unique perspective made this horrific period of history more palatable though no less awful. An excellent character driven novel, The Bookbinder is a work of art. It will appeal to many people for a wide range of reasons. As a teacher, I have had students hungry for knowledge and a chance at a better life like Peg as well as many “unique “ learners like Maude. As a woman, I appreciated the tangible reminder of how short our history of having a voice and a vote has been, especially for the working class. The love story between Peg and Bastian is beautiful and heartbreaking. The inexpressible grief of Lotte and others was painfully real. The portrayal of the influenza pandemic is especially poignant for those of us who experienced Covid 19. Most of all, this is a book about persistence and resilience and hope. Too often we let our deficiencies, losses, and failures define us. Maude, Tilda, Bastian, and Peg remind us that they don’t. I read around 40 books a year and about 2/3 - 3/4 are decently good. I’ve only read two this year that will stay with me and stay on my list of recommendations. The Bookbinder is one of them.

lol loved the book. Good story and good writing.

This book is amazing! Such a great read

The book gets off to a slow start. Lots (I mean LOTS) of focus on the technicalities of folio folding/book-making. I'm a bookmaker and I got bored, so I can't imagine this will appeal greatly to a broader audience. However, in the end I was glad I stuck with it. The story deals with complicated relationships, grief, friendship, family dynamics, and world history with a sympathetic and understanding eye.

Pip Williams created a riveting and captivating atmospheric novel about a unique domain in the history of World War I. Somehow, I don’t like World War I. The author was able to divest me of this Unreasonable bias. On the vehicle of this fascinating glimpse into the field of book binding, Ms. Williams transported me into the life and times of a young woman living near Oxford, England. An under privileged and marginalized young woman from Jericho whose love and longing for learning, lifted her above the limitations of her and era. Beautiful, tender, and enlightening, and inspiring. A wonderful book! I am recommending it to my daughters and my sisters.

I won't bore you with details since the blurbs on Amazon and the author have already done that. My overall impression was the book just didn't live up to my expectations. I kept wondering about where the book was headed ... was trying to show how boring the bookbinder's job was? What the war was like? What refugees and the war wounded went through? And the ending ... just ended although thr reader learns that Peggy finally made it into college and Gwen was actually graduating. I must have missed something because it felt so abrupt.

I loved this book. It really took me to another world- a world where women had few rights and war tore people and towns apart. But the main character, even though she was impacted like everyone else, chose to rise above it all and fought to reach her goals. It was a love story, a war story, an overcoming adversity story as well as a tutorial on the hand making of a bound book. I found it fascinating. The writing was so good I could picture every scene in mind, hear the characters talking and moving about. I highly recommend!

Found on Bookbub decided to give it a try. Now I will read Pip Williams other work. Three more words required.