A good read, well researched, great characters, and written with elegance and civility. 4.4 ( )

Twenty-one-year-old Peggy Jones has a childlike twin sister, Maude, who often repeats sentences and phrases that she overhears. Nevertheless, with instruction and supervision, Maude is able to perform certain tasks well. Peggy and Maude work in the bindery of the Oxford University Press. Peggy gathers, folds, and sews pages that her male counterparts will bind and cover. Peggy resents the fact that she is forbidden to read the books that she handles (although she manages to circumvent this prohibition), and she longs to study and expand her horizons.

"The Bookbinder" is a poignant work of historical fiction that is set before, during, and after World War I. Pip Williams vividly captures the excitement of young Englishmen who are eager to serve their country. Little do they realize that they will soon be wallowing in filthy trenches, and many will return home maimed in body and soul. Peggy and Maude live on a small narrowboat, near their good friend, Rosie. Pip Williams's Peggy is bored, frustrated, and jealous of Gwen, a woman born to wealth, who attends Somerville College and, at times, seems to take her privileges for granted.

Williams conveys mood of a country on the brink of a war that might last a brief time or for years. Quite a few women will be recruited to replace the enlisted men at work, and others will volunteer to help out in hospitals and rehabilitation facilities. Once these ladies get a taste of independence, however, a number of them will be reluctant to resume their old routines. As time passes, Peggy realizes that Maude has become capable of caring for herself; romance can be intoxicating as well as constricting; and that with great effort, even someone from the working class can aspire to fulfill her dreams.





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Completely unplanned, I read this book straight after Janet Frame's autobiographies. Both revolve around World War I, both describe women who never expected to achieve their desires, but who loved books and reading so much that despite poverty and discrimination rose into the centre of a world of reading and writing.

Quite a good novel set in Oxford during WWI, focused on the women of the Oxford University Press bindery. Enjoyed it very much, and will need to go back and read the author's previous works, now. ( )

"Courage is found not in the absence of fear, but in the resolve to persist despite it."

"To read is to travel, to explore worlds unseen and understand lives unlived."

"Books are like people; they have the power to change the world, one mind at a time."

The Bookbinder of Jericho covered a period of time (during and after World War I) and a location (Oxford University Press bindery) that I didn't know much about. Peggy's story as she navigates desires, her place in the world (working-class woman in a rapidly changing world), and looking after her sister Maud was at times exciting and at other times sad. I found myself regularly looking up more information on bookbinding, which was extra interesting. ( )