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![The Dictionary of Lost Words by [Pip Williams]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51bR6CGAMjL._SY346_.jpg)
The Dictionary of Lost Words Kindle Edition
Pip Williams (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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In 1901, the word bondmaid was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it.
Motherless and irrepressibly curious, Esme spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of lexicographers are gathering words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary.
Esme's place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day, she sees a slip containing the word bondmaid flutter to the floor unclaimed. Esme seizes the word and hides it in an old wooden trunk that belongs to her friend, Lizzie, a young servant in the big house. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men. They help her make sense of the world.
Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings relating to women's experiences often go unrecorded. She begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAffirm Press
- Publication date31 March 2020
- File size4288 KB
Product description
Review
"Enchanting, sorrowful, and wonderfully written, the book is a one-of-a-kind celebration of language and its importance in our lives. A must-have."--Library Journal (starred review)
"In Williams's exuberant, meticulously researched debut, the daughter of a lexicographer devotes her life to an alternative dictionary. . . . Williams's feminist take on language will move readers."--Publishers Weekly
"Williams turns history as we know it on its head in this delightful debut, spotlighting those women and their contributions, using the awe-inspiring power of words themselves to illuminate them."--Newsweek
"[A] masterfully written, beautiful first novel that tells a fascinating story of language, love and loss."--Historical Novel Society
"The writing is glorious; I dog-eared many pages as I read, marking passages that helped me see words in a new way."--Manhattan Book Review (starred review)
"The novel you've been waiting for without even realizing it . . . Williams will convince you of a word's importance in a most lovely and charismatic story."--Bookreporter
"A lexicographer's dream of a novel, this is a lovely book to get lost in, an imaginative love letter to dictionaries."--Booklist
"Williams provides readers with detailed background and biographical information pointing to extensive research about the [Oxford English Dictionary] and its editors, many of whom appear as characters in Esme's life. The result is a satisfying amalgam of truth and historical fiction."--Kirkus Reviews
"In the annals of lexicography, no more imaginative, delightful, charming, and clever book has yet been written."--Simon Winchester, author ofThe Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
"What a novel of words, their adventure, and their capacity to define and, above all, challenge the world. There will not be this year a more original novel published. I just know it."--Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler's List
"What a compelling, fresh look at historical women! This marvelous exploration into the ways in which spoken and written language impact us is a delight and an education."--Marie Benedict, author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
"This charming, inventive, and utterly irresistible novel is the story we all need right now. Words have never mattered more, as Pip Williams illuminates in her unforgettable debut."--Susan Wiggs, author of The Lost and Found Bookshop
--This text refers to the hardcover edition.About the Author
Book Description
Product details
- ASIN : B086KR4GKT
- Publisher : Affirm Press (31 March 2020)
- Language : English
- File size : 4288 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 434 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 409 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 17 in Historical Fiction (Kindle Store)
- 30 in Historical Fiction (Books)
- 203 in Whispersync for Voice
- Customer Reviews:
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Reviewed in Australia on 17 December 2020
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I didn't think it would be possible to enjoy (and learn from) a better book on lexicography than Winchester's 'The Surgeon of Crowthorne': I was wrong.
The Dictionary of Lost Words is a stately walk through Victorian England's values, from a woman's point of view, but always with the gentle overlay of the Oxford English Dictionary's lexicography. The facts of the task of compiling the OED were fascinating, but more-so the philosophical questions central to this book - What defines 'validity' in a word? Must it have been written down? Does a tabloid newspaper coining a new word, constitute its having been 'written down'? Is slang acceptable? Is slang only acceptable after it's been in use for a time? Should profanities be included, and if not, why not? The protagonist, Esme has to address these questions, then in a profoundly chauvinistic society, she has to present and argue her case. Her 'lost words' are the oral vocabularies of women. Not a topic many men in Victorian England were interested in.
Pip Williams' portrayal of English as a changing language, and her recognition of its inbuilt sexism is fascinating. As Esme observes; Nearly every (polite) term for a woman (such as Miss, Mrs, maiden, harlot) informs the hearer of the virginity-status of the woman concerned... and none of the male terms do equally. Even the derogatory ones such as 'git' do not allude to a man's virginity status.
Then there are the words for women, which have no male equivalent - 'scold'. Blame encompassed in just one word.
As in real life, nothing happens quickly and with Esme's accidental death, some actions are left to those who come after. This may disappoint those who like all the loose ends of a story tied up before the final page. But these characters, for the most part, are based on real individuals.
Finally this is a love story - typical of the age. Love finally declared... too late, bound by the constraints of the society (which impose on Esme a belief she is not worthy of happiness in marriage), and ended too soon by the horrohs of WWI.
A wonderful book. The best I have read for years.
_______
I don't know who I wish I could have dinner with more.... Pip Williams, or Esme.
Top reviews from other countries

The characters are wonderful- so warmly described; from Esme, who feels the responsibility for all of the discarded and unwanted words, to Lizzie who is there for Esme at every turn, to Mabel who provided some of the more ‘fruity ‘ words for Esme’s collection. All women who prove that their voices count as much as the next man.
A truly evocative read that will stay with me for a long time.




The history of our words and the fictional story of Esme who must remain silent and invisible, in the place her father works as a lexicographer, are beautifully combined to tell a story of the discarded words and the dictionary of lost words.
Esme has an irrepressible hunger for knowledge about the origins of words and had fully assimilated with the work of the scriptorium, but somehow her mentors just missed it. One word fascinates Esme – “Bondmaid”, which she learns means "slave girl," but as she collects the discarded words Esme realises that a lot of the words and meanings relating to women's and common folks' experiences are often the ones that go unrecorded and discarded. To give the unspoken words a voice and meaning, Esme produces the “Dictionary of lost words” from the rejected scraps of paper found on the floor.
This is a unique and original story that was such an interesting read particularly when interwoven with true historical references and the history and process of lexicography. I liked it but did not love it. It just seemed to drag a bit too much in the middle of the book and the themes, whilst good separately, didn't gel together as much as they could have. It needed more menace or intrigue. However, the writing was beautiful but a 3.5 rating.