The Dictionary of Lost Words

Books | Fiction / Historical / General

(550)

Pip Williams

In 1901, the word bondmaid was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it.Motherless and irrepressibly curious, Esme spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of lexicographers are gathering words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary.Esme's place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day, she sees a slip containing the word bondmaid flutter to the floor unclaimed. Esme seizes the word and hides it in an old wooden trunk that belongs to her friend, Lizzie, a young servant in the big house. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men. They help her make sense of the world.Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings relating to women's experiences often go unrecorded. She begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.

Historical Fiction

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More Details:

Author

Pip Williams

Pages

384

Publisher

Affirm Press

Published Date

2020-03-31

ISBN

1922400025 9781922400024

Ratings

Google: 5

Community ReviewsSee all

"A wonderful narrative that really makes the characters come to life. In addition to bringing characters to life for the reader, it made you feel as though you were there. I'd never considered the work that went into publishing the first Oxford Dictionary. Imagine being one of the editors- selecting the words, their spellings, and their meanings. I wish there truly had been an Esme to collect the words that had been discarded. "

Brandi Always Reading

"After attempting to listen to this book, I have finished reading a hard copy of it. This book is more of a work of fiction than it is historical. The writing of the dictionary was real, but not the main character, Esme, herself. Her story was well written, and her choice to give her daughter for adoption brought tears, and I love the way she tied in at the end. However, the book itself was rather slow-moving and mundane. I probably would not recommend it to people, but I am glad I finished it. 3/5"

Olivia Denning

"7/10, essymay lived an interesting life! Not sure what I was going to get with this book but it was a nice read!!"

Emily G.

"I read & enjoyed the NF book about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary,The Professor & the Madman so this piqued my interest. Author weaves a fict MC & certain fict plot points w/fact. char/inequalities present at the time such as how so many women contributed to the OED but inclusion of words was dependent on male editors. Also brings Britain’s suffrage movement that paralleled the publication of the OED, class diff, how we use language (men vs women), to the forefront. Loved this! "

M C

Melissa Craver

"i was really excited about this book but i felt like it was really long and slow paced "

Camryn Brown

"Such a wonderfully written story weaving in so many sub text making a very interesting read"

Donna Q

"Shows the power of words and language in all our lives. Interesting the effort it took to create the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary but more interesting is how words and definitions were chosen or discarded and how this marginalized women and segments of society. "

DaRo reads

"Alluring and spectacularly written. A beautiful piece of literature. "

Rebecca Medlin

"An enjoyable read… interesting to think on. I would have loved more focus or through lines on certain topics - and felt maybe some sections were a little overly long when they didn’t need to be. Curious to learn what others thought about the main character. "