The Dictionary of Lost Words

'An enchanting story about love, loss and the power of language' Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory Sometimes you have to start with what's lost to truly find yourself... Motherless and irrepressibly curious, Esme spends her childhood at her father's feet as he and his team gather words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. One day, she sees a slip of paper containing a forgotten word flutter to the floor unclaimed. And so Esme begins to collect words for another dictionary in secret: The Dictionary of Lost Words. But to do so she must journey into a world on the cusp of change as the Great War looms and women fight for the vote. Can the power of lost words from the past finally help her make sense of her future? 'A brilliant book about women and words - tender, moving and profound' Jacqueline Wilson Readers LOVE The Dictionary of Lost Words: 'If you only read one book this year, let it be this one!' 'If you're a fan of The Binding and The Betrayals you will surely love this' 'A glorious combination of words, growing up, friendship, love, feminism and so much more' 'The best love letter to words and language' 'This book broke my heart ... I highly recommend it to any historical fiction fans ... it's one I will be reading again' Dictionary of Lost Words, Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick, May 2022

About the Author :
Pip Williams was born in London, grew up in Sydney and now calls the Adelaide Hills home. She is the author of the international number one bestseller, The Dictionary of Lost Words, described by The Times as 'an extraordinary, charming novel'. It was also a New York Times bestseller, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and has been translated into over thirty languages to worldwide acclaim. Pip's second novel, The Bookbinder of Jericho, sprang from her discovery of archival footage of women who worked in the bindery of Oxford University Press during the early twentieth century. When she tried to find out more about them, there was almost nothing. Despite their important role in the production of books, barely a word has been written about them until now.

Review :
A brilliant book about women and words - tender, moving and profound An extraordinary, charming novel... Williams pins a whole, rich life to the page Poignant, perfectly paced... a beautifully nuanced work I absolutely loved this book! Thought-provoking, touching and subtly romantic; I finished it in tears Williams's satisfying novel animates a fascinating history and imbues it with a feminist slant, asking how words mean different things to men and women This lovely slice of historical fiction... A highly enjoyable resonant tale about the hidden and frequently gendered stories behind the words we take for granted A captivating and slyly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on the Oxford English Dictionary went largely unheralded A gorgeous, unique read This immersive, scrupulously researched debut provides poignant commentary on the ownership of language An enchanting story about love, loss and the power of language, what gets recorded and what gets forgotten. Set at a time when women's voices were clamouring more than ever to be heard, it moved me greatly to think how history is skewed by those who hold power -- and how important it is that novels like this redress that balance