The Official Book Club Guide: The Binding

II

Emmett and his father travel to an isolated bindery surrounded by marshland. The binder, who lives there alone, is an old woman called Seredith. On entering the bindery, Emmett feels a strange sense of familiarity and, after his father leaves, he faints. Seredith reveals that when he fell ill, months earlier, it was at the bindery.

Seredith insists that Emmett was born to be a binder. She patiently teaches him the craft of bookbinding and he is surprised to find that he feels a natural affinity for the work. Seredith explains that the books are created, not to sell, but to honour the individual who requests a binding. Once they are finished, they are stored in a locked vault.

One day, while Emmett is working, a young man arrives at the bindery. After staring intently at him, the stranger tries to tell Emmett something. Emmett, however, is unable to comprehend what he is saying. They are interrupted by Seredith and the stranger, who introduces himself as Lucian Darnay, says that he has come to be bound. When Seredith takes Lucian into the binding room, Emmett faints again.

III

When Emmett wakes he is tied to a bed by his wrist. Seredith tells him that he has been delirious for five days and was suffering from ‘binder’s fever’: a condition only experienced by those who are born to be binders. Remembering Lucian Darnay’s visit, Emmett feels inexplicable terror and frequently dreams about Darnay’s face.

Autumn turns to winter and Emmett is surprised when two women arrive in treacherous, snowy conditions. One of the women is wailing with distress when she enters the bindery but, after she has been bound by Seredith, emerges calm and quiet. Feeling that there is something sinister in the young woman’s blank expression, Emmett questions Seredith about what the binding process involves. She evades giving him an answer.

IV

Emmett is woken by a pounding on the bindery door. He checks on Seredith who declares that the Crusaders have come to kill them. When Emmett answers the door, he is confronted by a group of men, led by an aggressive spokesman. Referring to Seredith as a witch, the man demands his daughter’s book and threatens to burn the bindery to the ground if he does not get it. He instructs Emmett to get Seredith out of the house or she will suffer the same fate as her books. Seredith locks herself inside the bindery, shutting Emmett outside. In response, the men splash oil over the walls, ready to set the building alight with a flaming torch. Emmett tells the men that they will be cursed if they set fire to the house. In a voice which he feels belongs to someone else, he orders them to leave and a driving rain begins to fall. Frightened by Emmett’s use of ‘magic’, the men flee.

Seredith tells Emmett that sixty years earlier, when she was a young woman, Crusaders (members of an anti-binding movement) came for her and her master. In a moment of confusion, she thought it was happening again. When Emmett asks why she locked herself inside, Seredith replies that she guards her books with her life. Later, Emmett notices that Seredith’s binding room has been left unlocked and he goes inside. On the counter is a book bound in black velvet and decorated with the carefully crafted skeleton of a baby.

V

Shocked at his discovery, Emmett accuses Seredith of binding people and stealing their souls. Seredith corrects him, explaining that she only binds the memories that people want to forget. She goes on to tell him that the velvet-bound book belongs to Milly – the girl who arrived in the snow. Emmett is appalled when he learns that Milly buried her own baby alive and insists that she should not be permitted to forget her crime. Seredith explains, however, that the case is not as black and white as it appears, for the man who threatened to burn down the bindery was the baby’s father – and also Milly’s father. When Emmett asks what happens to people if their books burn, Seredith tells him ‘They remember.’

Shortly afterwards, Seredith falls ill. When the postman makes his weekly visit to the bindery, Emmett asks him to send for a doctor and to contact anyone Seredith is in correspondence with.

VI

Emmett nurses Seredith and her condition neither worsens nor greatly improves. One day, he goes into the room where Seredith takes people to be bound and, after a feeling of overwhelming terror, experiences a sense of clarity for the first time. Afterwards, Seredith notices the change in him and observes that he has ‘made peace’ with his calling. She promises to teach him the entire binding process once she has recovered.

Two men arrive at the bindery and introduce themselves as de Havilland and Dr Ferguson. As soon as he crosses the threshold, de Havilland behaves as if he owns the bindery and treats Emmett like a servant. Seredith refuses to let the doctor perform an examination but de Havilland declares that he will stay and keep an eye on her.

VII

Seredith makes it clear to de Havilland that his presence is unwelcome, and Emmett cannot understand why she does not ask him to leave. De Havilland owns a bindery in the town of Castleford and unsuccessfully tries to persuade Seredith to work there. Seredith tells Emmett that, for de Havilland, binding is all about power and money. She makes it clear that she does not want Emmett to become the same sort of binder as their visitor. One morning, after Emmett oversleeps, de Havilland coldly announces that Seredith has died.

VIII

De Havilland declares that Seredith’s death means that he is now Emmett’s master. He plans to take him to his bindery in Castleford where he will learn more ‘progressive’ methods of binding. Here, Emmett’s first job will be to visit a regular client whose maidservant requires a binding. When Emmett protests that he has never bound anyone before, de Havilland is unconcerned. He claims that all Emmett has to do is take a pen and paper, lay hands on the subject, and listen.

During the night, Emmett discovers that his new master has unlocked Seredith’s vault and is emptying the shelves of books. Packing the books in a chest, de Havilland picks out Lucian Darnay’s binding and observes that he had better omit it from the Darnays’ delivery. Emmett accuses de Havilland of stealing the vault key from Seredith’s body, insisting that if she were to entrust it to anyone, it would have been to her apprentice. De Havilland reveals that he is Seredith’s son.

IX

Emmett and de Havilland travel to Castleford. Here, Emmett discovers that while de Havilland undertakes the bindings either in his luxurious consulting rooms or at clients’ houses, the books are produced in a shabby workshop where little care is taken over the work. Confidentiality is not respected, and Emmett’s fellow workers regularly joke about the contents of the books they are working on.

X

Emmett is sent to the Darnays’ house to deliver a chest of books and undertake a binding. He is flustered when he is greeted by Lucian, but it quickly becomes clear that the other man does not recognise him. Lucian’s father, Piers Darnay, instructs Emmett to bind his servant and send the book to him within the week.

When Emmett meets Nell, the young maidservant, he is struck by how lifeless she seems. He struggles to draw Nell into conversation and eventually tells her that he cannot go through with the binding. Nell cries, and when Emmett puts his hand on her shoulder he unwittingly triggers the binding process.

XI

Emmett feels himself dragged into Nell’s memories. He relives her experiences and discovers that Piers Darnay has repeatedly raped her. When the binding is over, Emmett is left horrified, while Nell remembers nothing of the process or why she is there. After telling Nell to go and rest, Emmett sees pages covered in his own handwriting beside him and realises that he has written down everything Nell said. Stuffing the pages in his bag, he decides to flee the scene.

Emmett is unbolting the front door when Lucian catches him and reminds him that he must see his father before he can leave. When Lucian touches him on the shoulder, Emmett feels a physical jolt and lashes out. As the two men grapple, the strap of Emmett’s bag breaks and paper flies everywhere. Hurriedly picking the pages up, Lucian takes Emmett to the study.

Lucian declares that he hates all binders, revealing that de Havilland binds their servants repeatedly and that his father has shelves full of their books. He tells Emmett that he will be called out to bind Nell again and again.

Realising that Emmett’s name sounds familiar, Lucian rummages in the chest of newly delivered books and pulls out a binding with ‘Emmett Farmer’ inscribed on the spine. Emmett tries to grab the book, but Lucian holds it out of reach. Kneeing Lucian in the groin, Emmett succeeds in snatching the book but finds he cannot read its pages. As Lucian reaches for the bell-pull, Emmett throws his book into the fire.

PART TWO

XII

Emmett remembers the day he first met Lucian. On the way home from poaching rabbits on Lord Archimbolt’s estate, he and his sister, Alta, encounter a young man in the ruins of an old castle. After the stranger introduces himself as Lucian Darnay, Alta steps into the middle of the frozen moat and falls into the icy waters. Lucian is the first to rescue her and, despite Emmett’s protests, insists on taking Alta back to their farm on horseback.

Emmett arrives back at the farm to see Lucian wearing his best shirt and being treated like a hero by his family. His mood does not improve when, after rebuking his sister for endangering her life, he learns that she did so deliberately in the hope that Lucian would save her. Left alone with Lucian, Emmett threatens their visitor, instructing him to leave and never come back.

XIII

Following her ‘accident’, Alta is confined to bed with a fever. After a couple of weeks, however, she is sufficiently recovered to ask whether Lucian has kept his promise to return. Discovering that her brother banished him, Alta becomes disconsolate, claiming that she loves Lucian (who, she has discovered, is Lord Archimbolt’s nephew.)

Having reluctantly written an apology letter to Lucian, Emmett goes to Lord Archimbolt’s house. Hoping to leave the letter and a parcel of Lucian’s clothes with the housekeeper, he is dismayed when Lucian answers the door. Clearly enjoying Emmett’s discomfort, Lucian agrees to visit Alta soon.

Lucian’s next visit to the farm coincides with the Farmer family’s terrier giving birth to two puppies. On learning that the Farmers can only keep one puppy, and the other might be drowned, Lucian asks if he can have the unwanted pup. Emmett reluctantly agrees to him taking the puppy once she is three months old.

XIV

Lucian frequently visits his puppy, which he names Splotch. He also spends hours sitting at Alta’s bedside, entertaining her. Asked by his parents to act as a chaperone to Alta and Lucian, Emmett is also forced to spend time with their regular visitor.

Despite the complex mixture of emotions that Lucian provokes in him, Emmett reluctantly begins to enjoy his company. One day, Lucian pretends to tell Alta’s fortune, pronouncing that she will fall in love with ‘a dark young man’ who will return her love. Emmett reacts furiously.

As the festive celebration of the Turning approaches, Alta is well enough to spend time out of bed. After asking Lucian to show her how to waltz, she insists that he should also teach her brother. As instructed, the two men briefly dance in each other’s arms until Emmett becomes breathless. Afterwards, Emmett impulsively invites Lucian to join his family for Turning dinner – despite having previously considered inviting Perannon Cooper – an attractive local girl.

XV

By the time spring arrives, Lucian has become an everyday part of the Farmers’ lives, accompanying Alta and Emmett almost everywhere. At the Wakening Fair, Emmett and Lucian creep off together when Alta joins the local girls in a ribbon dance. Lucian becomes angry, however, when Emmett wanders over to the book stall. Realising from Emmett’s reaction that he does not understand what the books contain, Lucian explains that they are the worst memories of other peoples’ lives, bound into book form through magic.

Lucian reveals to Emmett that he has been sent to his uncle’s house as a punishment but, at some stage, his father will summon him back to Castleford to help run his factories. When Emmett asks what he has done to deserve the punishment, however, Lucian refuses to tell him.

XVI

One day, during a walk in the woods, Splotch disappears. While searching the upper floor of a dilapidated gatekeeper’s lodge, Emmett and Lucian are interrupted by the arrival of Lord Archimbolt and Perannon Cooper and hide out of sight. Listening to the exchange taking place below, the two young men struggle to contain their mirth. While Lucian’s uncle plays the role of the angry lord of the manor, Perannon acts the part of the penitent poacher. Standing in close proximity to Lucian and listening to the unmistakable sounds of the couple having sex, Emmett is unable to conceal his arousal. The encounter makes Emmett realise that his crush on Perannon is very much a thing of the past.

After an entire week without a visit from Lucian, Emmett keenly feels his absence. He gloomily concludes that Lucian has been summoned back to Castleford and has abandoned him without a word. On Midsummer’s Day morning, however, Lucian returns when everyone is asleep, waking only Emmett. They walk to the ruined castle and Lucian announces that he is considering asking Alta to marry him.

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