The Dictionary of Lost Words: Reese's Book Club: A Novel
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
“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
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Readers say *The Dictionary of Lost Words* is a thoughtfully researched historical novel blending the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary with a...
At first, hard to connect with the characters and had a slow start
Enjoyed the historical setting/the plight of women’s rights
This is about the writing of the OED and a fictionalized version if one of the workers had been female. Esme collects words, some of them that never make it to the dictionary, because they are based on conversations, not text. She visits the market and picks up slang expressions that are commonly used and makes her own dictionary of Women's Words. Some parts of this are a bit humorous as the women explain some of the sexual references to her. It also focuses on the women's suffrage movement. It's a slow going book and not one I would recommend. I had read "The Professor and the Madman" about the writing of the OED and that was a much better book, and is based on a true story.
The Dictionary of Lost Words was an interesting story with rich historical detail, but it often felt a bit heavy. The emphasis on words and their meanings sometimes slowed the narrative, and while I appreciated the unique premise, the storyline never fully drew me in. Overall, it was okay—worth reading if you’re especially interested in language and history, but it didn’t quite captivate me.
Overall, this was a good book. But it started so slowly and there was not much to the plot until Esme got pregnant. I also didn’t like the ending. It seemed that the author killed off Esme because she couldn’t come up with a better ending. Tbe premise, however, was enlightening and I learned a fictionalized version of how the Oxford dictionary came about.
I tell myself I'm not a fan of historical fiction and on the rare chance I do read one I'm usually blown away. I started this one blind, it was a recommendation from a friend. Within the first chapter I knew this book had the potential to break my heart.
It did in deed break me. Esme is such a force to reckon with. She's curious, intelligent and filled with such love for her da, her friend Lizzy, her job and words. In her younger years her being lost and feeling abadoned while trying to maintain in this world feeling numb really resignated with me. The more the story went on the more my tears fell. I can't think of words for how much his book made me feel so I'm borrowing a sentence from garreth, "I have no way of describing the wrenching of my soul"
I think of the amount of research that went into this one is astounding. People love books and without the dictionary we would t have such words for them. I don't often think about that and I'm sure others do not either. Not only about the scriptorium but also with women suffrage. This gives you that history that's much needed.
It did in deed break me. Esme is such a force to reckon with. She's curious, intelligent and filled with such love for her da, her friend Lizzy, her job and words. In her younger years her being lost and feeling abadoned while trying to maintain in this world feeling numb really resignated with me. The more the story went on the more my tears fell. I can't think of words for how much his book made me feel so I'm borrowing a sentence from garreth, "I have no way of describing the wrenching of my soul"
I think of the amount of research that went into this one is astounding. People love books and without the dictionary we would t have such words for them. I don't often think about that and I'm sure others do not either. Not only about the scriptorium but also with women suffrage. This gives you that history that's much needed.
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