The Dictionary of Lost Words

Sometimes you have to start with what's lost to truly find yourself...

Motherless and irrepressibly curious, Esme spends her childhood at her father's feet as he and his team gather words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary.

One day, she sees a slip of paper containing a forgotten word flutter to the floor unclaimed.

And so Esme begins to collect words for another dictionary in secret: The Dictionary of Lost Words. But to do so she must journey into a world on the cusp of change as the Great War looms and women fight for the vote. Can the power of lost words from the past finally help her make sense of her future?

Review

A brilliant book about women and words - tender, moving and profound -- Jacqueline Wilson

An extraordinary, charming novel... Williams pins a whole, rich life to the page ― The Times

Poignant, perfectly paced... a beautifully nuanced work -- Eithne Farry ― Mail on Sunday

I absolutely loved this book! Thought-provoking, touching and subtly romantic; I finished it in tears -- Katie Fforde

Williams's satisfying novel animates a fascinating history and imbues it with a feminist slant, asking how words mean different things to men and women -- Patricia Nicol ― Sunday Times

About the Author

Pip Williams was born in London, grew up in Sydney and now calls the Adelaide Hills home. She is the author of the international number one bestseller, The Dictionary of Lost Words, described by The Times as 'an extraordinary, charming novel'. It was also a New York Times bestseller, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and has been translated into over thirty languages to worldwide acclaim. Pip's second novel, The Bookbinder of Jericho, sprang from her discovery of archival footage of women who worked in the bindery of Oxford University Press during the early twentieth century. When she tried to find out more about them, there was almost nothing. Despite their important role in the production of books, barely a word has been written about them until now.