The Binding. Bridget Collins
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The Borough Press
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
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
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Source ISBN: 9780008272142
Ebook Edition © December 2019 ISBN: 9780008272135
Version: 2020-10-08
For Nick
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Read on for an excerpt from Bridget Collins’ new novel, The Betrayals
About the Author
Also by Bridget Collins
About the Publisher
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