As a team of male scholars compiles the first Oxford English Dictionary, one of their daughters decides to collect the "objectionable" words they omit.
Esme Nicholl is a collector of words.
As a young child, she sits beneath the sorting table in the Scriptorium in Oxford, watching and waiting for word slips to inadvertently fall from the table, while her father and other lexicographers toil over entries for their daunting task.
Working under esteemed editor Dr. James Murray, they are those who will spend decades creating the greatest reference work in the English language and of the language, the Oxford English Dictionary.
As Esme grows, she’s set about on tasks for the Dictionary, but also begins work on something altogether different, a covert project of her own, her dictionary of lost words. These are words that are overlooked, deemed insignificant, words with little chance of inclusion in the Dictionary. They are the words of women and those without influence. Not only a collector, Esme becomes a protector of these words.
The Dictionary of Lost Words is a beautifully written example of historical fiction. Its author Pip Williams expertly weaves the crafting of the Oxford English Dictionary with the backdrop of some notable contemporary events: The Great War and the women’s suffrage movement, the fight to give women in England the right to vote.
The novel blends fictional characters such as Esme and her father with historical figures like Dr. Murray, the true to life primary editor of the Dictionary from 1879 until his death 28 years later. In The Dictionary of Lost Words, we encounter fictionalized versions of others integral to the development of the Dictionary such as Edith Thompson, an historian and author who, along with her sister Elizabeth, contributed more than 15,000 quotations to the Dictionary. In Esme’s fictionalized world, she serves as a mentor to both the young, motherless girl that Esme begins life as and the woman Esme ultimately becomes.
Based on Williams’ research into the Dictionary’s creation, The Dictionary of Lost Words provides insight into the development of the mammoth work, the first edition of which was published in 1928, 71 years after it was first proposed. (The second edition was published in 1989.)
For those who enjoy historical fiction and for linguaphiles and Anglophiles alike, The Dictionary of Lost Words is time well spent and a moving acknowledgement to those whose love of language has resulted in the authoritative record of our English language.
For those interested in a bit of related reading and viewing, The Professor and the Madman by author Simon Winchester examines the involvement of Dictionary contributor Dr. William Chester Minor, an American physician, Civil War veteran, and murderer housed in an insane asylum in England who become another of the Dictionary’s most prolific contributor of quotations. The book became the basis for the 2019 film of the same title starring Mel Gibson as Dr. Murray and Sean Penn as Dr. Minor.
Both the book and film are available from the library.
Availability: Book; eBook & eAudiobook in cloudLibrary Rating: ***** Stars (I loved it) Reviewer: Katina, Area Librarian
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GENRE: Australian Fiction; Historical Fiction
THEMES: Books about Books (These books are saturated with books, storytelling, and writing, celebrating the reading life we all know and love!)
WRITING STYLE: Lyrical; Well-Researched
CHARACTER: Strong Female; Well-Developed
TONE: Atmospheric; Thought-Provoking
LOCATION: Oxford, England
TIME PERIOD: 20th Century; Edwardian Era (1901-1914)
SUBJECT: Dictionaries; English Language; History; Language & Culture; Language & Languages; Suffragist Movement; Women; Women's Role; Words
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