The Dictionary of Lost Words
2020 • 376 pages
Ratings15
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings15
Average rating4.1
"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 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.
Reviews with the most likes.
Fine story following young Esme in parallel to the development of the first Oxford Dictionary. Gender roles were highlighted subtly at first and then more boldly as Esme's childhood gave way to womanhood and her own ambition. After the most metaphorical and vague fade-to-black I've ever read, Esme falls into a trope I didn't expect or appreciate. Later, the story peaks and suffragettes make the scene, but suddenly I hit diminishing returns. Gareth and Esme aren't given enough pages to sit with their emotions, so every chapter approaching the end seems anti-climactic, like sleep-walking through a misty, half-forgotten dream. Still, very much appreciate the attention paid to showing classcism, sexism, and misogyny.
This book is more of a reflection than anything, lending itself to a more formal and slightly more detached feel than I am used to. Still, the content matter was ever so important to reflect on, especially when as readers we are well aware of the power of language and who tells the stories we know. Though slow moving, I found this book interestingly pertinent.
I hadn't heard of this before I picked it up in a (real life!) bookshop, but apparently it garnered plenty of attention when it was published last year. And with good reason, I think.
It's the story of a woman, Esme, framed by the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the way the meaning of words are shaped by use (as her own life's meaning is shaped by use), the words/lives considered worthy or unworthy of recording for posterity and who gets to decide that worth.
I enjoyed this one: slow and character-driven, no high drama, some tearful moments. I would have appreciated a content warning, but it's seriously spoilery and it would have ruined the moment, but I leave it here for you: childbirth, child loss, adoption .
The final chapter and the epilogue continue past Esme's work on the Dictionary, and I feel the book would have been stronger without it. Ditte's final letter would have been the perfect end-point, in my mind although clearly Megan's lecture shows Esme's work given the public attention she hoped it would someday achieve .
Such a lovely book! I adore stories that follow an individual character's life and journey. This one was so well done. The first part of the story was definitely my favorite. Esme was a fascinating child. Once she was older my interest in her started to wane, but I really loved reading about her friendship with Lizzie and then the story progressing into wartime. I've never given any thought to the creation of the dictionary before. The research seemed very thorough including a timeline at the end of the book. Everything came full-circle.
