Under the Press

Text 1: The Binder’s Thread, by Miriam Vale

An original novel extract.

The atlas arrived wrapped in brown paper, although the paper was doing more to hold it together than the cover was. Its spine had peeled away, and loose pages stuck out at crooked angles. Arun carried it to his bench and unwrapped it beneath the yellow circle of his lamp. Around him, the workshop smelled of paper, paste and rain-damp coats. He placed his needle, brush and spool of linen thread in a careful crescent. Other people might have seen a ruined book. Arun saw an afternoon opening before him.

He matched the torn edges, brushed paste beneath the lifted cloth and pulled each stitch snug. Measure, pierce, draw through: the movements settled into their own rhythm. The needle travelled in and out, laying a neat white road down the spine. Outside, delivery vans coughed in the street and doors banged in the wind; inside, time gathered around the small movements of Arun’s hands. Slowly, the scattered pages became a book again.

At last, he closed the cover and placed both palms on it. He waited. Then he opened the atlas at its centre. The repaired pages turned cleanly, revealing a blue sea crossed by hair-thin routes and islands no larger than fingerprints. Arun ran his thumb along the new spine, once, then once again.

‘It looks new,’ said the assistant beside him.

‘No,’ Arun replied, smiling. ‘It looks like itself.’

How does Miriam Vale make Arun’s work on the atlas seem pleasurable through her use of language and structure?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.