The Dictionary of Lost Words

By: Pip Williams

Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner

Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

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, Esme spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, 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 realises that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings relating to women's experiences often go unrecorded. 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 our experience of the world.

©2020 Pip Williams (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Excellent book

You will love this book if you love the language English and it’s evolution. Highly recommend.

Astonishing

Romantic.
Fascinating
Insightful
Wisdom
Wit

If I should leave a word to be discovered, what would it be?

This book is on my Top ten bookshelf.

Well done to the writer and narrator.

planning to listen again!

I have an old soul and gravitate towards anything set in the early 19th century. since it's based heavily on real events,it made all the more intriguing! I was not disappointed atall. From the story till the narration everything was spot on. if you are someone who likes to travel in the past and see how it was like then, what were the struggles and fear of people in those times plus some history then you have landed on the right book. it is mild and melancholic. no violence explicitly stated and wraps up beautifully in the end like a neat bow on a parcel. thank you for the gift of this book.

I now understand the value of including fictional books in my reading plan

This book was suggested by a book club, so I gave it a go even though I don’t usually listen to fiction. That is now changed. I enjoyed the story so much and time flew when I was listening to it. Thank you to the author for a deeply touching book that has forever changed how I view words.

An unusual love story

I loved this book! It is beautifully written and difficult not to listen to all in one go.

The Dictionary of Lost Words

I enjoyed the history and the story. Interesting characters, beautifully read.
I recommend it.

Review

Absolutely wonderful book. Very interesting historically re the first edition of the Oxford dictionary and how long it took to produce. Beautifully written and narrated

Life-changing

A watershed moment in my literary journey. This book not only appealed to my love of words and their etymology, but also forced me to examine my own attitudes and ideas about so many women's (nay, human) issues which I never before had reason to question or challenge.

Fact and fiction beautifully entwined

Author and Narrator fit beautifully together. Fact is fascinating, fiction is believable, heartwarming and moving

I savoured every lyrical word

I never wanted this book to end. The reader brought it to life and I loved every minute of.