The Binder of Lost Stories
Original title: La rilegatrice di storie perdute
Synopsis
“An astonishing storyteller.” —Vanity Fair
Following The Secret Ways of Perfume and The Garden of Secret Flowers, bestsellers that continue to remain in the lists, here is a new novel about the power of books. Two courageous women, who are separated by time, meet and become each other’s mutual strength in their search for freedom and a better future.
The finely worked cover embraces pages yellowed with time. With her delicate, expert touch, Sofia handles the leather and paper gently, as she restores the book to its antique splendor. Bookbinding is her passion. It’s the only way she manages not to dwell on her life slipping through her hands day by day. When the time comes to work on the counterguard, Sofia suddenly catches her breath: inside a surprise is hidden. A handwritten page is concealed there: it contains the story of a woman, Clarice, an art- and book-lover. A skilled bookbinder who lived in the early 18th century, when women were banned from the profession. A woman who fought for her independence. By the faltering light of a candle, she had entrusted the book with a message launched into the sea of time and a challenge that may lead the person who takes it up to an extraordinary find. Sofia can hardly believe the treasure she is holding in her hands. This woman seems to be speaking straight to her heart and to her betrayed desires. She is determined to find out who the woman is and about her hidden secret.
Helping her shed light on this mystery is Tommaso Leoni, a famous hunter of antique books and a graphology expert. Together they follow the clues they come across, page by page, line by line, town after town. It is books that choose us and this book has chosen Sofia. After over two hundred years, only she can give Clarice back her voice. And only Clarice’s story can give back to Sofia the hope she has lost. Because the path towards a woman’s freedom is filled with obstacles but one must never stop looking towards the horizon.
Marketing Information
- Over 50,000 copies sold
- Full English translation available