Guest review: ‘The Dictionary of Lost Words’
Author: Pip Williams , Affirm Press (2020) Genre: Historical fiction
Reviewed by Laura Pettenuzzo
“Motherless and irrepressibly curious, Esme spends her childhood in the Scritporium, 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 realizes that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings related to women’s experiences often go unrecorded. She begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.”
Since its release a few months ago, The Dictionary of Lost Words has popped up all over social media, and rightly so. It is a beautifully written novel that masterfully weaves Esme’s fictional story into a string of historical events: the creation of the first Oxford English Dictionary, the women’s suffrage movement and the First World War.
The structure was an effective choice, allowing readers to travel quickly through time and Esme’s life, without missing a great deal of what had happened. Time jumps such as these aren’t always ideal, but Pip Williams executed them brilliantly, with each part of the novel aligning with the publication of a certain section of the dictionary. For example, Part 3, 1902-1907, Lap-Nywe.
Esme’s character developed along with the world, her views undergoing a radical shift as the suffragette movement intensified. As a young girl, when questioned as to why she wouldn’t aim to be an editor, she stated: “I’m a girl.” It was one of the male editors who challenged her assumption, asking, “Should that matter?” When she first became aware of the suffragette movement, she wasn’t a staunch supporter, believing, as she told her friends, “I’m not at all like those women back there.” Through conversations with Lizzie, who criticized the feminist movement as benefiting only white, middle class woman, Esme became passionate about fighting for a world that recognized women from all walks of life, asserting that “we are not all struggling in the same way.” Eventually Esme began to feel as though her work on the Dictionary paled in comparison to the work of women openly campaigning for women’s rights. It was her family friend Ditte, who reminded her to “play a position you are good at, and let others play theirs.”
One of Esme’s hands were burned when she reached into a fire to rescue a piece of paper containing the word “lily,” her mother’s name. The image of the “blackened shards of the word…stuck to [her] melted skin” foreshadowed the way that words would forever follow her, and she them. The scarred, wrinkled hand became a source of insecurity for Esme, as visible differences often do. She hated shaking hands because, as one character put it, she was afraid that others might flinch or visibly recoil. The inclusion of a physical “flaw” on a character who is morally good was a refreshing change from the traditional depiction of characters with visible differences as villains.
Only the last couple of chapters were set in Australia, but I was pleased to see the traditional custodians of the area (the Kaurna people) acknowledged, and recognized again in the Author’s Note.
My favourite line was probably Ditte’s advice to Esme after the start of the First World War:
“Stay busy – I cannot overstate the benefits of a busy day for an anxious mind or a lonely heart.”
Although The Dictionary of Lost Words is ostensibly a piece of historical fiction, its themes are as relevant today as they were a century ago. This book pays homage to the power of language to change our lives, and issues a rallying cry for gender equity. Get yourself a copy immediately, if you haven’t already.
You can buy a copy of The Dictionary Of Lost Words from Readings here.
Laura (she/her) is a writer of short stories and book reviews. She lives on Wurundjeri land and is passionate about accessibility and mental health.
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