The Bookbinder of Jericho

By: Pip Williams

Narrated by: Annabelle Tudor

In 1914, when the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, it is the women who must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who work in the bindery at Oxford University Press in Jericho. Peggy is intelligent, ambitious and dreams of going to Oxford University, but for most of her life she has been told her job is to bind the books, not read them. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has. She is extraordinary but vulnerable. Peggy needs to watch over her.

When refugees arrive from the devastated cities of Belgium, it sends ripples through the community and the sisters' lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can use her intellect and not just her hands, but as war and illness reshape her world, it is love, and the responsibility that comes with it, that threatens to hold her back.

2023, ARA Historical Novel Prize, Long-listed

2024, Indie Book Awards Fiction, Short-listed

2024, Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) General Fiction Book of the Year, Winner

2024, BookPeople (formerly ABA) Book of the Year Award Adult Fiction, Short-listed

©2023 Pip Williams. Originally published in by Affirm Press. (P)2023 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

"I’ve longed to return to Williams’ distinctive blend of riveting historical detail and brilliant women. The Bookbinder of Jericho is everything I wanted and more." (Toni Jordan, author of Addition)

"An extraordinary work of poetic grace and raw beauty that will enfold readers in its powerful and moving narrative. A stunning companion to The Dictionary of Lost Words." (Karen Brooks, author of The Good Wife of Bath)

"Rich, deep and fascinating, it’s what all novels should be – a companion for life." (Tegan Bennett Daylight, author of Safety and Bombora)

one for your mother; not your brother.

This novel read like somebody read Jude The Obscure and The Professor after watching The English Patient and then wrote a funding grant to be devoted to women of war. They then got the cash and went to the toilet at Oxford and out came The Bookbinder of Jericho, a pop romance about a factory girl who falls in love with a mutilated Belgian soldier and dreams of going to university. And she does. The end.