Cover of the book The Dictionary of Lost Words

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The Dictionary of Lost Words

byPip Williams

Genres: Feminism Fiction History Feminist Literary Criticism Women in Science and Tech Life-Rediscovery Journeys

Who is this book for? Readers interested in feminism, historical fiction, and the power of language.

Topics LoveIdentityFreedomSurvivalCourage

MoodHopeful, Reflective

Female protagonist

RomanceMinor Subplot

'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, a garden shed in Oxford where 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 when she learns that the word means 'slave girl,' she 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.

Language

Published on

01/01/2021

Pages

432

Format

Paperback

ISBN

9785001696469

Price Comparison

8.99 €

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9.99 £

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Editions in other languages

The Dictionary of Lost Words alternative edition book cover

hardcover

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