The Dictionary of Lost Words: Reese's Book Club

By Pip Williams

Book Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK - "Delightful . . . [a] captivating and slyly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on the Oxford English Dictionary went largely unheralded."--The New York Times Book Review

"A marvelous fiction about the power of language to elevate or repress."--Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of People of the Book

Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed in which her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Young Esme's place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip and, learning that the word means "slave girl," begins to collect other words that have been discarded or neglected by the dictionary men.

As she grows up, Esme realizes that words and meanings relating to women's and common folks' experiences often go unrecorded. And so she begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: the Dictionary of Lost Words. To do so she must leave the sheltered world of the university and venture out to meet the people whose words will fill those pages.

Set during the height of the women's suffrage movement and with the Great War looming, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. Inspired by actual events, author Pip Williams has delved into the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary to tell this highly original story. The Dictionary of Lost Words is a delightful, lyrical, and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words and the power of language to shape the world.

WINNER OF THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARD

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1984820745
• ISBN13: 9781984820747
• Release Date: May 2022
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

4 stars

THE DICTIONARY OF LOST WORDS by Pip Williams A book for linguists and word enthusiasts. This story takes a look behind the arduous (multi year!) process of compiling words that eventually became the Oxford English Dictionary. It explores how words were included and/or excluded due to social and gender biases. And it raises questions such as: Who decides how words are used? What determines a word’s validity? Young Esme Nicoll spends her time under the sorting table at the Scriptorium where her lexicographer father works. She begins to collect discarded words, and words from those who are overlooked, forgotten or ignored —the poor, the “help”, and women. Esme’s dictionary of lost words inadvertently highlights the experiences of women in the 19th century. At times this was (very!) slow moving, but I enjoyed learning about the history behind the OED. I appreciate the focus on women’s voices/grievances and society’s reactions to it. Recommend for my fellow readers, lexiphiles, logophiles, logomaniacs, verbivores, and all lovers of language! Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

I really enjoyed reading this book!

This book pulled me out of a reading slump and I was unable to put it down, I carried it with me everywhere until I finished!

Really loved this book

Dictionary of Lost Words is a interesting tale of a young women's passion for the words of culture that make people who they are. These are words that don't make it to the dictionary but they give color and depth to the world they lived in.