The Binding. Bridget Collins

      

       Copyright

      The Borough Press

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

      Copyright © Bridget Collins 2019

      Cover based on original hardback design by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

      Cover illustration © bilwissedition Ltd. & Co. KG / Alamy Stock Photo (background), Shutterstock.com (key)

      Bridget Collins asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      Illustrations © Andrew Davidson

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780008272142

      Ebook Edition © December 2019 ISBN: 9780008272135

      Version: 2020-10-08

       Dedication

       For Nick

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

      Copyright

      Dedication

      Part One

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

       Chapter VII

       Chapter VIII

       Chapter IX

       Chapter X

       Chapter XI

      Part Two

       Chapter XII

       Chapter XIII

       Chapter XIV

       Chapter XV

       Chapter XVI

       Chapter XVII

       Chapter XVIII

       Chapter XIX

      Part Three

       Chapter XX

       Chapter XXI

       Chapter XXII

       Chapter XXIII

       Chapter XXIV

       Chapter XXV

       Chapter XXVI

       Chapter XXVII

       Chapter XXVIII

       Acknowledgements

      Read on for an excerpt from Bridget Collins’ new novel, The Betrayals

      About the Author

       Also by Bridget Collins

       About the Publisher

PART ONE

       I

      When the letter came I was out in the fields, binding up my last sheaf of wheat with hands that were shaking so much I could hardly tie the knot. It was my fault we’d had to do it the old-fashioned way, and I’d be damned if I was going to give up now; I had battled through the heat of the afternoon, blinking away the patches of darkness that flickered at the sides of my vision, and now it was nightfall and I was almost finished. The others had left when the sun set, calling goodbyes over their shoulders, and I was glad. At least now I was alone I didn’t have to pretend I could work at the same pace as them. I kept going, trying not to think about how easy it would have been with the reaping