Williams, Pip
A young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life—an exquisite novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese's Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words
It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who live on a narrowboat in Oxford and work in the bindery at the university press.
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. 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. She is extraordinary but vulnerable, and Peggy feels compelled to watch over her.
Then refugees arrive from the war-torn cities of Belgium, sending ripples through the Oxford community and the sisters’ lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can educate herself and use her intellect, not just her hands. 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.
The Bookbinder is a story about knowledge—who creates it, who can access it, and what truths get lost in the process. 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.
Story Locale:Oxford, England, WWI, 1914-1918Praise for The Dictionary of Lost Words
Winner of the Australian Book Industry Award for Best General Fiction of 2020 • One of the five shortlisted novels for the prestigious British literary award, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction • 2021 winner of the Australian Indie Book Awards Book of the Year
“Pip Williams has spun a marvelous fiction about the power of language to elevate or repress . . . It is at once timely and timeless.” —Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of People of the Book
“What a novel of words, their adventure, and their capacity to define and, above all, challenge the world. There will not be this year a more original novel published. I just know it.” —Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler’s List
“The Dictionary of Lost Words is an enchanting story about love, loss and the power of language, and what gets recorded and what gets forgotten.” —Elizabeth Macneal, international bestselling author of The Doll Factory
“This charming, inventive, and utterly irresistible novel is the story we all need right now. Words have never mattered more, as Pip Williams illuminates in her unforgettable debut.” —Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost and Found Bookshop
“[A] captivating and slyly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on the Oxford English Dictionary went largely unheralded… And it allows Williams’s readers to be treated to a wealth of delightful banter.” —New York Times Book Review
“Enchanting, sorrowful, and wonderfully written, the book is a one-of-a-kind celebration of language and its importance in our lives. A must-have.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“Williams turns history as we know it on its head in this delightful debut, spotlighting those women and their contributions, using the awe-inspiring power of words themselves to illuminate them.” —Newsweek
“Williams has populated her novel with quirky, curious, and eclectic characters, a number of whom are based directly on the actual staff who worked in the scriptorium on the OED. Those of her own creation are equally compelling.” —Los Angeles Public Library
