The dictionary of lost words : a novel

Williams, Pip 1969- (author.).

Summary: In this remarkable debut novel based on actual events, as a team of male scholars compiles the first Oxford English Dictionary, one of their daughters decides to collect the "objectionable" words they omit. Motherless, Esme spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip, and is told that the word means "slave girl." Learning that words relating to women's and common folks' experiences often go unrecorded, Esme begins to collect other words discarded by the dictionary men. As she grows up, Esme begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: the Dictionary of Lost Words.

Record details

ISBN: 9780593160190
ISBN: 0593160193
ISBN: 1984820745
ISBN: 9781984820747
Physical Description: print
xiv, 376 pages : map ; 25 cm
Edition: First U.S. edition.
Publisher: New York : Ballantine Group, [2021]
Copyright: ©2020 [text]

Content descriptions

General Note:	"Originally published in Australia by Affirm Press in 2020." -- Verso.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references.
Formatted Contents Note:	Prologue: February 1886 -- Part 1: 1887-1896. Batten-distrustful -- Part 2: 1897-1901. Distrustfully-kyx -- Part 3: 1902-1907. Lap-nywe -- Part 4: 1907-1913. Polygenous-sorrow -- Part 5: 1914-1915. Speech-sullen -- Part 6: 1928. Wise-wyzen -- Epilogue: Adelaide, 1989 - Author's note -- Timeline of the Oxford English Dictionary -- Timeline of major historical events featured in the novel.