A historical fiction novel about words both entices and because of its popularity also made me hesitate.
Background
Scottish lexicographer Dr James Murray was the primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1884. The only word Dr Murray ever conceded had been overlooked was “bondmaid”, meaning a girl bound to serve without wages.
When author Pip Williams discovered this omission, the idea for her debut novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words, was born. Jenny Valentish, Guardian
And so I dive in and find myself often using the dictionary feature on the kindle – yes there are a lot of lost words, or words that are no longer in common use, and one of the main words, and locations, the scriptorium had me confused right from the start – a tin shed where a few learned, self-important men are compiling the first edition of the Oxford dictionary? Even as I write these words, the spellcheck has underlined that word in red.
We are introduced to this place and the main character Esme as she is crawling around beneath the table in this scriptorium, we don’t understand a lot about why she is there, as her father appears to be raising her alone without childcare.
A slow build up in the early years, the pace picks up finally when Esme is old enough to go to town and meet a few unconventional women and hears new to her ears, ancient popular but unknown words, and when she meets Tilda, an actor and suffragette her vocabularly and life experience widen even further.
It is the late 1880’s, an era of slow progress, both on the dictionary and on the rights of women.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Esme grows up and begins to work with her father, collecting “slips” and the necessary quotations, that give words the right to be part of this grand dictionary.
The problem being that much of a women’s world is left out, words that have existed, often for centuries, but have either not been written in any notable works or are deemed not appropriate for polite society.
Esme has found her calling.
It’s an interesting journey through a particular period of history, though I found the character of Esme to be a little two-dimensional compared to some of the secondary characters and one of the characters appears mostly through letters, which rather than illuminate some of the mysteries in Esme’s life, just had me asking why this one character if she was so important to her life, wasn’t present. The story seemed to lose pace towards the end or perhaps just went on too long, as I began to lose interest.
There are moments of humour, but also predictability – in Esme’s 30’s her like of words pertaining to women and the poor are discovered by the villainous Dankworth, as the slips flutter to the floor, who should arrive but her literary knight (not yet in armour) Gareth, the compositeur. She ponders the words “manhandled, pillock and git”.
A slow consciousness raising and cast of characters across the class divine in Oxford, with the controlled compilation of the Dictionary at the centre of it.
Further Reading
Guardian Books: All words are not equal’: the debut novelist who’s become a lockdown sensation by Jenny Valentish
Lisa’s Review at ANZLitLover’s – a more passionate take on the history and the bias resulting from it being a virtually male endeavour
Guardian Review: A Gentle Hopeful Story
Word by Word 
Thanks for the mention, Claire, I’m sorry you didn’t like it better!
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It was a strange reading experience, there were parts I was really engaged and then other parts where it just seemed to lose its way and my interest with it.
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It’s such an interesting premise, but … you’ve not tempted me. Phew. The TBR list is way too long as it is.
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Sometimes reading the reviews are enough, I enjoy that activity too, you know, like window shopping, but with books. 🙂
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😉
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This has been on my tbr since publication. You haven’t put me off but I appreciate the warning. I’d rather begin with lowered expectations than the other way around.
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I did enjoy it, but it generated that feeling while reading an ebook of not seeing how close to the end we are, and feeling like we should have arrived there sooner, rather than one of not wanting it to end when it’s timed perfectly. An intuitive feeling.
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I’ve not been keen on this one as I don’t like fictionalisations of real people and events. And the popularity! I’ve got the other dictionary one TBR though [goes to look at TBR shelf, is glad office is now on same floor as TBR], The Liar’s Dictionary, which I hope is a bit better!
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Yes, I’m wondering now if that other one was what had tempted me but I think I’m done with books about dictionaries for the time being. 🙂 I’ll look forward to reading your eventual thoughts on it instead.
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What a wonderful premise. Sad it didn’t live up to expectations.
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It is a wonderful premise and I’m glad I read it, I certainly learned from reading it and some parts especially when she gets away from the scriptorium and begins interacting with characters in the market and theatre are really engaging.
Thank you Tulika for reading and commenting.
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What is it about novel’s about dictionaries? I feel like there are a lot of them, and I think I’ve enjoyed quite a few too…
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Oh yes, now I’ve remembered I read The Yield recently too, that was a dictionary book, one I absolutely loved. But, enough now.
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One of the first ones I read is an older book, in translation, that Vishy recently blogged about (Pavic’s Dictionary of the Khazars). And then there was L’empriere’s Dictionary by Lawrence Norfolk. That was the first “big” (i.e. acclaimed) one that I remember. And Xiaolu Guo’s A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers (a women’s prizelist nominee also about a decade ago, or so)…it’s a thing. A thing I like!
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Oh dear, now you’ve gone and peaked my curiosity, my TBR is groaning today!! 🙂
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This is one that I’ve been intrigued by the premise, but not sure about the execution of it. I think I’ll keep it on the ‘maybe’ list.
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You are clever to have picked that up before diving in? that’s the discernment element that I try to improve on to avoid this kind of situation. But sometimes one slips through.
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Oh, I wish! No, there are plenty of books I pick up and am not wild about, but there was something in the reviews I read that triggered warning signals though I don’t remember what. I do really love good historical fiction but have read enough of it to know when to be cautious.
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