A young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese\'s Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words.
Much as she did in the international bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams thoughtfully explores another rarely seen slice of history through women\'s eyes..
The Bookbinder is a story about knowledge--who creates it, who can access it, and what truths get lost in the process.
But as war and illness reshape her world, her love for a Belgian soldier--and the responsibility that comes with it--threaten to hold her back.
Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can educate herself and use her intellect, not just her hands.
Then refugees arrive from the war-torn cities of Belgium, sending ripples through the Oxford community and the sisters\' lives.
She is extraordinary but vulnerable, and Peggy feels compelled to watch over her.
Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has: to spend her days folding the pages of books in the company of the other bindery girls.
Ambitious, intelligent Peggy has been told for most of her life that her job is to bind the books, not read them--but as she folds and gathers pages, her mind wanders to the opposite side of Walton Street, where the female students of Oxford\'s Somerville College have a whole library at their fingertips.
Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who live on a narrow boat in Oxford and work in the bindery at the university press.
It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running.
A young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese\'s Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words
