The Dictionary of Lost Words

Bookclub read [UoG]: I was interested in the premise of this, having always loved words - their beginnings, uses and the way their meanings can change. I've never really thought about the gendering of words, how they can mean different things to men and women and how each has their own vocabulary (how this works in our more gender-fluid time I would be very interested to read upon). This book made me think about the words of my childhood, from my hometown and those of my parents. The special words that only mean something to you and those close to you. The new words you find as you grow and travel. The meanings you make for yourself.
Based on the true story of the dictionary's creation with the beginnings of the suffragist and suffragette movements and the First World War it's hard to believe that Esme is fiction. She seemed so real, well rounded by Williams' words and imbued with life. I wanted so much for her and felt her losses deeply. In some ways it is sad that real women of the dictionary remain as peripheral characters in this book as they do on the actual history of creating the dictionary. However, I appreciate Williams not wishing to take liberties with their narratives. The fictional women, were well fleshed out from the crass Mabel to the (almost) modern day Meg.
There was little joy to be taken from the lives of the characters, everything was permeated with a bleakness - perhaps due to the time it was set. However there was joy in the words, in the claiming of them and I will look differently at many of them since reading this.