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The dictionary of lost words : a novel / Pip Williams.
"The Dictionary of Lost Words is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical figures, are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Before the lost word, there was another. It arrived at the Scriptorium in a second-hand envelope, the old address crossed out and Dr Murray, Sunnyside, Oxford, written in its place. It was Da's job to open the post and mine to sit on his lap, like a queen on her throne, and help him ease each word out of its folded cradle. He'd tell me what pile to put it on and sometimes he'd pause, cover my hand with his, and guide my finger up and down and around the letters, sounding them into my ear. He'd say the word, and I would echo it, then he'd tell me what it meant"-- Provided by publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781984820730
- ISBN: 1984820737
- Physical Description: 1 online resource
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: New York : Ballantine Group, [2021]
Content descriptions
| Source of Description Note: | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Lexicographers > Fiction. Vocabulary > Fiction. Reading > Fiction. Fathers and daughters > Fiction. Fathers and daughters. Lexicographers. Reading. Vocabulary. |
| Genre: | Electronic books. Electronic books. Biographical fiction. Fiction. Novels. Biographical fiction. Novels. |
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Electronic resources
- Baker & Taylor
"The Dictionary of Lost Words is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical figures, are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Before the lost word, there was another. It arrived at the Scriptorium in a second-hand envelope, the old address crossed out and Dr Murray, Sunnyside, Oxford, written in its place. It was Da's job to open the post and mine to sit on his lap, like a queen on her throne, andhelp him ease each word out of its folded cradle. He'd tell me what pile to put it on and sometimes he'd pause, cover my hand with his, and guide my finger up and down and around the letters, sounding them into my ear. He'd say the word, and I would echoit, then he'd tell me what it meant"-- - Random House, Inc.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ⢠REESEâS BOOK CLUB PICK ⢠âDelightful . . . [a] captivating and slyly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on the Oxford English Dictionary went largely unheralded.ââThe New York Times Book Review
âA marvelous fiction about the power of language to elevate or repress.ââGeraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of People of the Book
Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed in which her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Young Esmeâs place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip and, learning that the word means âslave girl,â begins to collect other words that have been discarded or neglected by the dictionary men.
As she grows up, Esme realizes that words and meanings relating to womenâs and common folksâ experiences often go unrecorded. And so she begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: the Dictionary of Lost Words. To do so she must leave the sheltered world of the university and venture out to meet the people whose words will fill those pages.
Set during the height of the womenâs suffrage movement and with the Great War looming, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. Inspired by actual events, author Pip Williams has delved into the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary to tell this highly original story. The Dictionary of Lost Words is a delightful, lyrical, and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words and the power of language to shape the world.
WINNER OF THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARD
