The Bookbinder’s Secret
This is a ‘Treasure Hunt’ novel which is a treasure to find. Treasure Hunt novels work on the premise that somebody in the past has hidden a secret and then scattered clues so that somebody in a future generation can uncover it. It is difficult to devise a plausible reason why anybody should do this, but plausibility is not the intent. The formula offers the author infinite possibilities to send his protagonist to interesting places to meet unusual people while, if the original secret has ruthless guardians with much to lose from its discovery, we have a potentially high-tension thriller. The Bookbinder’s Secret exploits all these possibilities to the full.
The great strength of the book is Lillian, a bookbinder’s apprentice in Oxford in 1901. She is an insecure young woman with an unhappy past but is expert at her job which she loves. One day she finds a letter hidden in the binding of a book she is restoring, which launches her into unravelling a fifty-year-old mystery, takes her all over England and puts her and her loved ones in extreme danger.
Lillian survives a tempest of guilt, fear, grief and loss, which we share with her while delighting in the final resolution. The plot may be implausible, but the main characters are psychologically convincing, and the action is fast and tense. The last lines of the book hint at a sequel. I look forward to it.
