is ambitious and intelligent, secretly yearning to study at Somerville College. However, as a working-class woman, she is told her job is to bind books, not read them.
is neurodivergent and finds comfort in the repetitive nature of her work. Peggy feels a deep, sometimes suffocating responsibility to protect her, which further complicates her own dreams of education. Key Themes and Historical Context The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams (book review)
Set in the Oxford neighborhood of Jericho in 1914, the story follows twin sisters . They live on a narrowboat and work at the Oxford University Press bindery, a trade they’ve held since they were twelve.
The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams is a powerful exploration of knowledge, class, and the female experience during World War I. As a companion to the international bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words , this novel shifts its lens from the creation of words to the physical labor of binding them, highlighting the voices of those often left in history’s margins.
