The Dictionary of Lost Words

[Jennifer, Moderator]

In 1901, the word ‘Bondmaid’ was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it.

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. Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word ‘bondmaid’ flutters to the floor. Esme rescues the slip and stashes it in an old wooden case 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. While she dedicates her life to the Oxford English Dictionary, secretly, she begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.

Set when the women’s suffrage movement was at its height and the Great War loomed, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. It’s a delightful, lyrical and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words, and the power of language to shape the world and our experience of it.

The Dictionary of Lost Words

Pip Williams

[Bill, Moderator]

I'm just finishing a couple of books. Looking forward to checking this book out.

[Lindsey]

Hey Jennifer, i led a discussion on this book in another group. Would you like me to post discussion questions, author interviews and other info pertaining to this book for this discussion? I didn't get a chance to read it but am hoping to this month.

[Lindsey]

Author #PipWilliams shares the thought-provoking plot and big questions at the center of #TheDictionaryOfLostWords. This story spins a real love of words into a fictional tale about the power of language. 📖

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