A beautiful idea, wonderfully executed.
This story follows a girl named Esme through her life. Starting with her childhood in the late 1800s Esme’s world is described and defined in words from the Scriptorium where her father and his colleagues work to write the first-ever Oxford English Dictionary. Esme begins the story as a young girl, spending her days under the Scrippy table where she collects her first ever word, ‘bondmaid’. A word no one noticed was missing from the first volume of A and B. Esme discovers that words spoken and relating to women were often not included or completely overlooked by the dictionary men. Over the years many more slips (small pieces of paper where the individual words and definitions were written) like ‘bondmaid’ join Esme’s collection as she devotes her life not only to the Oxford English Dictionary like her father but to her own dictionary, The Dictionary of Lost Words. Here she chronicles women’s life from everyday words, to curse words all the way to words pertaining to the women’s suffrage movement. Throughout the novel, we see this list grow alongside Esme and her understanding of the world and the society she was born into.
Some words are more important than others. I learned this growing up in the Scriptorium. But it took a long time to understand why.
– Pip Williams, The Dictionary of Lost Words
Author Pip Williams has created a wonderfully researched world where she tackles key issues from childhood, loss, women’s suffrage and World War 1. Many of the people mentioned in the book were real people who had an extraordinary impact on the dictionary. Despite Esme being fictitious, many of the key events involving her are historically accurate, the slip for ‘bondmaid’ is in fact missing from the original slips still kept in Oxford.
The Dictionary of Lost Words has undoubtedly made an impact on me, securing itself a place on my all-time favourites list. I enjoyed watching Esme grow up from a curious girl into a passionate woman and a seeker of truth. I absolutely adored the wealth of strong female connections made in the book. The relationships and friendships that are shown are as tangible and real as any other and the characters are so beautifully realistic.
All in all, I loved this book. The history and the fiction worked impeccably well together. I highly recommend reading this book.
Tales for Teens 