The Dictionary of Lost Words (Unabridged)
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
In 1901, the word ‘Bondmaid’ was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it.
In 1901, the word bondmaid was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it.
Motherless and irrepressibly curious, Esme spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of lexicographers are gathering words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day, she sees a slip containing the word bondmaid flutter to the floor unclaimed. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men.
Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others – that words and meanings relating to women’s experiences often go unrecorded. She begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.
Set when the women’s suffrage movement was at its height and the Great War loomed, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men.
Customer Reviews
Beautiful read
Such a beautifully written and narrated book - loved every second of it
Beautiful
What a truely beautiful book. So well written and some many interesting words. I love books that combine history (fact) and fiction and this does it incredibly well. Getting to know the characters and words was a pleasure only sorry it’s finished.
The Dictionary of Lost Words
Didn’t finish, borderline childish