The Bookbinder of Jericho was a huge success; we all thoroughly enjoyed reading it and all of us agreed that we had learnt a considerable amount about the bookbinding industry in the early 20th Century in this small corner of Oxford. (Indeed, we were privileged to be given a demonstration of how to fold, turn, cut and prepare a sheet of paper for binding! Thanks Gill).

The novel was based on archival material located in the Oxford University Press discovered when the author was researching her first novel 'The Dictionary of Lost Words'.   The Bookbinder story focusses on the women in the OUP bindery during the Great War, including a number of real people directly connected to the OUP or Somerville College.

The story focusses on the lives of twin sisters, Peggy and Maude, and their friends and neighbours, but is really about 'Women'.  Women who worked and those who were forced to flee during the war, women's rights and struggles for recognition and equality, women who chose to go to the front line despite all the obstacles and barriers, as well as those who who stayed at home, grieving,  waiting, hoping. Or like Peggy reading, studying and striving for an education denied to her by her class, status and position in life. 

We all felt that the various characters were beautifully drawn and wholly credible.  The arrival of the Belgian refugees in Oxford, following the destruction of Leuven, and the love story between Bastiaan and Peggy was beautifully crafted. We all thought that Maude, the autistic twin with echolalia, was utterly delightful and her growing independence rang true. The story was told through the eyes of Peggy and followed a traditional, seemless trajectory, a bit of a relief from the non-linear narrative, increasingly common in contemporary literature.  

This novel about the Great War was an easy, accessible but surprisingly  unsentimental read. The horrors of war became apparent via Bastiaan's and Lotte's 'stories' and Tilda's letters,  but the main focus in this book was on the printed word and the hidden riches therein.  Peggy's all consuming passion for literature and the printed word comes to fruition when she finally gains a scholarship to Somerville College in 1920.