The Dictionary of Lost Words

 The Dictionary of Lost Words

By Pip Williams

Pages: 400

"Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she 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 to the floor. She rescues the slip, and when she learns that the word means slave-girl, she withholds it from the OED and 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 women's and common folks' experiences often go unrecorded. And so she begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words. "

This was an interesting dive into how the dictionary was created and how historical events such as the woman's suffragist movement and WWII affected the creation and selection of words. Esme collects ones that are rejected from the formal dictionary, mostly written or said by women and minorities and turns them into her own dictionary and gives them a voice. I really enjoyed this book and I often do not read historical fiction, but the bookworm in me was intrigued by the title and I am glad I picked it up.