The release date for the English version of 'The Dictionary of Lost Words' by
Pip Williams is May 2022. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
Esme enters the realm of speech from birth. Her early years are spent in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed where her father and a group of devoted lexicographers are gathering words for the first Oxford English Dictionary. She is motherless and very inquisitive. Hidden behind the sorting table, Young Esme has no place to be seen or heard. One day, a piece of paper with the phrase "bondmaid" on it flutters under the table. After saving the slip, she discovers that the word means "slave girl" and starts collecting more terms that the dictionary guys have overlooked or thrown away.
As she gets older, Esme learns that meanings and expressions connected to the lives of women and regular people are sometimes lost to time. She then starts looking for terms for the Dictionary of Lost terms, her own dictionary, in earnest. She has to go out and meet the individuals whose words will fill those pages in order to do this, leaving the safe haven of the institution.
The Dictionary of forgotten Words, which is set in the midst of the Great War and the height of the women's suffrage movement, uncovers a forgotten tale that is concealed between the lines of a history that was created by males. Author Pip Williams has created this very unique novel by exploring the Oxford English Dictionary's archives, drawing inspiration from real-life occurrences. A wonderful, poetic, and profoundly thought-provoking celebration of words and the ability of language to transform the world is The Dictionary of Lost Words.