A review by raineachreads
The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Pip William’s debut novel, ‘The Dictionary of Lost Words’ has stayed with me since I read it and remains one of the stand out books for me over the past few years. Therefore I started this book with a good deal of trepidation of whether it would live up to a similar standard. I shouldn’t have feared as William’s manages once more to create a powerful novel that had me laugh, cry, empathise and learn too of the history of women of whom we are never formally taught. 

‘The Bookbinder of Jericho’ tells the story of twins, Peggy and Maude. Both women have occupations of book binding in Oxford while living in a canal barge. Peggy, who is the main protagonist dreams of stepping over from the ‘town’ to the ‘gown’ and becoming a student but due to social class, conditioning and lack of formal education knows this is simply a dream. Maude (my favourite character) experiences the world in a more black and white manner and is written very much as being autistic (as an autistic reader I really appreciated this and felt Williams did an excellent job especially with her inclusion of echolalia which she showed is not simply meaningless). As the First World War enters their lives on the home front both discover that life can change in surprising ways both for good and for bad and just how often the circumstances we find ourselves in are what really influence our lives. Like the books they bind so much of our individual lives are bound up by the people and things behind the scenes that are never seen. Williams shines a light on these aspects. 

I really could write so much about this book as I absolutely loved it. However what really stood out for me alongside the character development was the deeper themes that ran alongside the plot. Williams is clearly a great observer of people and of life. She shows that life is not a fairy tale but is gritty, harsh, filled with hopes and dreams, despair and trauma and that all of these things matter and accumulate to create the person. 

This really was such a fantastic book and one that I know I will return to over and over again. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.