The Bookbinder of Jericho
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $26.22
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Annabelle Tudor
-
Written by:
-
Pip Williams
About this listen
A young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words.
“Williams spins an immersive and compelling tale, sweeping us back to the Oxford she painted so expertly in The Dictionary of Lost Words.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife
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 narrow boat 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.
You may also enjoy...
-
The Girl in the Painting
- Written by: Tea Cooper
- Narrated by: Casey Withoos
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Australia, 1906: Orphan Jane Piper is nine years old when philanthropist siblings Michael and Elizabeth Quinn take her into their home to further her schooling. The Quinns are no strangers to hardship. Having arrived in Australia as penniless immigrants, they now care for others as lost as they once were. Despite Jane’s mysterious past, her remarkable aptitude for mathematics takes her far over the next seven years, and her relationship with Elizabeth and Michael flourishes as she plays an increasingly prominent part in their business.
-
-
Good story but...
- By Anonymous User on 2022-04-26
Written by: Tea Cooper
-
The Last Bookshop in London
- A Novel of World War II
- Written by: Madeline Martin
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
August 1939: London is dismal under the weight of impending war with Germany as Hitler’s forces continue to sweep across Europe. Into this uncertain maelstrom steps Grace Bennett, young and ready for a fresh start in the bustling city streets she’s always dreamed of - and miles away from her troubled past in the countryside. With aspirations of working at a department store, Grace never imagined she’d wind up employed at Primrose Hill, an offbeat bookshop nestled in the heart of the city - after all, she’s never been much of a reader.
-
-
Delightful Find!
- By Anonymous User on 2021-06-15
Written by: Madeline Martin
-
The Dictionary of Lost Words
- A Novel
- Written by: Pip Williams
- Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed in which her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Young Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip and, learning that the word means “slave girl,” begins to collect other words discarded or neglected by the dictionary men.
-
-
Beautifully written historical love story of words
- By Anonymous User on 2023-01-11
Written by: Pip Williams
-
Nightcrawling
- A Novel
- Written by: Leila Mottley
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are barely scraping by in a squalid East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent—which has more than doubled—and to keep the nine-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed.
-
-
A Shocking Eye Opener
- By Anonymous User on 2023-02-11
Written by: Leila Mottley
-
City of Girls
- A Novel
- Written by: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Narrated by: Blair Brown
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love. In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance.
-
-
Okay
- By Anonymous User on 2019-06-25
Written by: Elizabeth Gilbert
-
The Memory of Lavender and Sage
- Written by: Aimie K. Runyan
- Narrated by: Caroline Hewitt
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Food critic Tempèsta Luddington has always felt like the odd person out in her family, ever since she lost her beloved mother at the tender age of thirteen. When her workaholic father passes fifteen years later, Tempèsta is not surprised that the majority of the considerable family money will pass to her dutiful younger brother, Wal. Still, she is left a modest remembrance from her mother, and for the first time Tempèsta has a world of choices before her.
-
-
Lovely, warm, comforting, hopeful
- By Anonymous User on 2024-08-20
Written by: Aimie K. Runyan
-
The Girl in the Painting
- Written by: Tea Cooper
- Narrated by: Casey Withoos
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Australia, 1906: Orphan Jane Piper is nine years old when philanthropist siblings Michael and Elizabeth Quinn take her into their home to further her schooling. The Quinns are no strangers to hardship. Having arrived in Australia as penniless immigrants, they now care for others as lost as they once were. Despite Jane’s mysterious past, her remarkable aptitude for mathematics takes her far over the next seven years, and her relationship with Elizabeth and Michael flourishes as she plays an increasingly prominent part in their business.
-
-
Good story but...
- By Anonymous User on 2022-04-26
Written by: Tea Cooper
-
The Last Bookshop in London
- A Novel of World War II
- Written by: Madeline Martin
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
August 1939: London is dismal under the weight of impending war with Germany as Hitler’s forces continue to sweep across Europe. Into this uncertain maelstrom steps Grace Bennett, young and ready for a fresh start in the bustling city streets she’s always dreamed of - and miles away from her troubled past in the countryside. With aspirations of working at a department store, Grace never imagined she’d wind up employed at Primrose Hill, an offbeat bookshop nestled in the heart of the city - after all, she’s never been much of a reader.
-
-
Delightful Find!
- By Anonymous User on 2021-06-15
Written by: Madeline Martin
-
The Dictionary of Lost Words
- A Novel
- Written by: Pip Williams
- Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed in which her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Young Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip and, learning that the word means “slave girl,” begins to collect other words discarded or neglected by the dictionary men.
-
-
Beautifully written historical love story of words
- By Anonymous User on 2023-01-11
Written by: Pip Williams
-
Nightcrawling
- A Novel
- Written by: Leila Mottley
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are barely scraping by in a squalid East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent—which has more than doubled—and to keep the nine-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed.
-
-
A Shocking Eye Opener
- By Anonymous User on 2023-02-11
Written by: Leila Mottley
-
City of Girls
- A Novel
- Written by: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Narrated by: Blair Brown
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love. In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance.
-
-
Okay
- By Anonymous User on 2019-06-25
Written by: Elizabeth Gilbert
-
The Memory of Lavender and Sage
- Written by: Aimie K. Runyan
- Narrated by: Caroline Hewitt
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Food critic Tempèsta Luddington has always felt like the odd person out in her family, ever since she lost her beloved mother at the tender age of thirteen. When her workaholic father passes fifteen years later, Tempèsta is not surprised that the majority of the considerable family money will pass to her dutiful younger brother, Wal. Still, she is left a modest remembrance from her mother, and for the first time Tempèsta has a world of choices before her.
-
-
Lovely, warm, comforting, hopeful
- By Anonymous User on 2024-08-20
Written by: Aimie K. Runyan
-
Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books
- A Novel
- Written by: Kirsten Miller
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books—none of which she’s actually read. To replace the “pornographic” books she’s challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home: a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she’s sure the town’s readers need.
-
-
There maybe be hope!
- By Anonymous User on 2024-11-21
Written by: Kirsten Miller
-
The Postcard
- Written by: Anne Berest, Tina Kover - translator
- Narrated by: Barrie Kealoha
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
January, 2003. Together with the usual holiday cards, an anonymous postcard is delivered to the Berest family home. On the front, a photo of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. On the back, the names of Anne Berest’s maternal great-grandparents, Ephraïm and Emma, and their children, Noémie and Jacques—all killed at Auschwitz. Fifteen years after the postcard is delivered, Anne, the heroine of this novel, is moved to discover who sent it and why.
-
-
So relevant for our times.
- By Anonymous User on 2024-04-29
Written by: Anne Berest, and others
-
Olive Kitteridge
- Fiction
- Written by: Elizabeth Strout
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.
-
-
Boring
- By Anonymous User on 2020-01-29
Written by: Elizabeth Strout
-
The Paris Deception
- Written by: Bryn Turnbull
- Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sophie Dix fled Stuttgart with her brother as the Nazi regime gained power in Germany. Now, with her brother gone and her adopted home city of Paris conquered by the Reich, Sophie reluctantly accepts a position restoring damaged art at the Jeu de Paume museum under the supervision of the ERR—a German art commission using the museum as a repository for art they’ve looted from Jewish families.
-
-
I made it through!
- By Anonymous User on 2024-10-10
Written by: Bryn Turnbull
-
A Place of My Own
- The Architecture of Daydreams
- Written by: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With this updated edition of his earlier book, A Place of My Own, listeners can revisit the inspired, intelligent, and often hilarious story of Pollan’s realization of a room of his own—a small, wooden hut, his “shelter for daydreams” — built with his admittedly unhandy hands. Inspired by both Thoreau and Mr. Blandings, A Place of My Own not only works to convey the history and meaning of all human building, it also marks the connections between our bodies, our minds, and the natural world.
-
-
Fantastic
- By Anonymous User on 2023-01-27
Written by: Michael Pollan
-
The Things We Do for Love
- A Novel
- Written by: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child have broken more than Angie DeSaria’s heart. Following a painful divorce, she moves back to her small Pacific Northwest hometown and takes over management of her family’s restaurant. In West End, where life rises and falls like the tides, Angie’s fortunes will drastically change yet again when she meets and befriends a troubled young woman.
-
-
Basic and a bit offensive
- By Anonymous User on 2021-07-12
Written by: Kristin Hannah
-
The Seamstress of Acadie
- Written by: Laura Frantz
- Narrated by: Pilar Witherspoon
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As 1754 is drawing to a close, tensions between the French and the British on Canada’s Acadian shore are reaching a fever pitch. Seamstress Sylvie Galant and her family—French-speaking Acadians wishing to remain neutral—are caught in the middle, their land positioned between two forts flying rival flags. Amid preparations for the celebration of Noël, the talk is of unrest, coming war, and William Blackburn, the British Army Ranger raising havoc across North America’s borderlands.
-
-
good story, but ...
- By Anonymous User on 2024-09-12
Written by: Laura Frantz
-
The Curse of Pietro Houdini
- A Novel
- Written by: Derek B. Miller
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heartfelt, powerfully engaging, and in the tradition of Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, this is a work of storytelling bravado: a thrilling action-packed art heist, an imaginative chronicle of forgotten history, and a poignant coming-of-age epic where a child navigates one of the most morally complex fronts of World War II and lives to tell the tale.
-
-
Amazing story
- By Anonymous User on 2024-11-01
Written by: Derek B. Miller
-
Code Name Hélène
- A Novel
- Written by: Ariel Lawhon
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik, Peter Ganim
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1936, and Nancy Wake is an intrepid Australian expat living in Paris who has bluffed her way into a reporting job for Hearst newspaper when she meets the wealthy French industrialist Henri Fiocca. No sooner does Henri sweep Nancy off her feet and convince her to become Mrs. Fiocca than the Germans invade France and she takes yet another name: a code name. As Lucienne Carlier, Nancy smuggles people and documents across the border and earns a new nickname from the Gestapo for her remarkable ability to evade capture: The White Mouse.
-
-
Excellent story
- By Allen Chocorlan on 2020-07-24
Written by: Ariel Lawhon
-
Band of Sisters
- A Novel
- Written by: Lauren Willig
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A group of young women from Smith College risk their lives in France at the height of World War I in this sweeping novel based on a true story - a skillful blend of Call the Midwife and The Alice Network - from New York Times best-selling author Lauren Willig.
-
-
unbelievably great
- By Anonymous User on 2022-06-28
Written by: Lauren Willig
-
Butter Honey Pig Bread
- Written by: Francesca Ekwuyasi
- Narrated by: Amaka Umeh
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Francesca Ekwuyasi’s debut novel tells the interwoven stories of twin sisters, Kehinde and Taiye, and their mother, Kambirinachi. Kambirinachi feels she was born an Ogbanje, a spirit that plagues families with misfortune by dying in childhood to cause its mother misery. She believes that she has made the unnatural choice of staying alive to love her human family and now lives in fear of the consequences of that decision.
-
-
a feast that I did not want to end
- By Anonymous User on 2021-04-10
Written by: Francesca Ekwuyasi
-
My Oxford Year
- A Novel
- Written by: Julia Whelan
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
American Ella Durran has had the same plan for her life since she was 13: study at Oxford. At 24, she’s finally made it to England on a Rhodes Scholarship when she’s offered an unbelievable position in a rising political star’s presidential campaign. With the promise that she’ll work remotely and return to DC at the end of her Oxford year, she’s free to enjoy her Once in a Lifetime Experience. That is until a smart-mouthed local who is too quick with his tongue and his car ruins her shirt and her first day.
-
-
amazing
- By Anonymous User on 2018-08-24
Written by: Julia Whelan
What the critics say
"“The Bookbinder is a confident and considered sequel that complicates Williams’s literary universe while riffing on class, family, trauma and remembrance. Williams fully inhabits the world of the bindery and it shows—there’s hardly a page out of place.”—The Guardian
“A brilliant exploration of who has access to knowledge and the experience of women during wartime.”—Good Weekend
“Pip Williams spins an immersive and compelling tale, sweeping us back to the Oxford she painted so expertly in The Dictionary of Lost Words. This time, as England is plunged into the Great War, women like Peggy Jones, long held back and underestimated, have an unexpected chance to show their strength, follow their deepest longings, and bravely step into lives larger than the ones the world has pinned them too. Williams is a fresh, exciting new voice in historical fiction.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife
What listeners say about The Bookbinder of Jericho
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2024-08-02
the characters
great story winding the characters around the story of WW1. the lives of the soldiers and their families and the working class women left at home
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Linda in Nepean, Canada
- 2023-10-28
A worthy sister
I was hoping I would like this book as much as "The Dictionary of Lost Words", and I did. While you could treat "The Bookbinder of Jericho" as a stand alone story, you will do yourself a favour if you listen to "The Dictionary of Lost Words" first. The threads that tie the two books together make this one that much more enjoyable. This book is a sister, rather than a sequel, and that is a good thing to be. The narrator is excellent, the story moves along at a good pace, and the ending is satisfying. Make sure you listen to the Author's Note at the end, at least up to the detailed bibliography, for insight on how the book came together and which parts on based on historical facts. Pip Williams is definitely an author whose books I will keep looking for in future.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful