The Bookbinder’s Secret by A.D. Bell

Rare for the times, a young woman builds her trade as a bookbinder while also helping at her father’s bookshop. She has a good reputation as a binder and is offered a commission and she comes across a burned book that doesn’t seem quite right. On further investigation she discovers a letter stitched in the binding. It is only part of a letter and she guesses that more will be in the other books by this author. And so begins the hunt for the other books as well as the mystery of who the writer and the people are in the letter.

It is quite the adventure and not without danger. Other people are interested in these books, one being a moustache twirling baddie who is very unsavoury. Her hunt stretches to London, Birmingham and Manchester where she meets eccentric characters and a very attractive one.  One of life’s survivors, she faces personal violence, the poor health of her father and possible bankruptcy plus emotional dilemmas concerning her childhood sweetheart and her role in life. The story is told in the first person and the writing is accessible and modern.

This is quite a pacy tale with unexpected characters especially the ambitious bookbinder herself who is a tad too modern for the turn of the century woman. This often serves as a feature of her spirit but also comes across as inauthentic at times, for example, when her boss winks at her and she wonders if it is ‘appropriate’ for him to behave this way. Definitely a twenty-first century attitude. There are a few examples of this, such as ‘mugging’ which was not used to  mean street robbery in England until the 1940s. But these are minor gripes for an otherwise great read.

There is lots of detail about bookbinding and bookshops, and good descriptions of the places visited as well as references to social change and the role of women. Mystery, intrigue, romance, suspense and a bit of peril – but best of all, a book about books.