The Dictionary of Lost Words

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 .