The Dictionary of Lost Words

By Pip Williams

Do words mean different things to men and women? What do we lose when our language is recorded and curated by an unrepresentative group of people? And how much meaning is there in recognising and understanding the language used by marginalised groups?

Pre-war England. A young girl helps her father, who is working on the first Oxford English Dictionary. In a shed in the garden of the editor, they sort through paper slips with suggestions for words and quotations sent in by the public.

Only certain words are included in the Dictionary, and Esme realises the words of women and the poor are being left behind. She starts collecting them, from scraps of discarded paper and from the mouths of women.

In this novel, Williams creates a fantastic sense of place. I have a vivid imagination of the cosy Scriptorium where the dictionary team sort slips of paper into pigeon holes along the walls. The idea of working slowly and methodically through the words of the English language is compelling. You'll find yourself wishing you were tasked with sorting those paper slips, instead of with PowerPoints or Excel.

The narrative is powerful, and all the more so for the fact that it's based on the true story of the compilation of the first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme is based on real women who contributed to that first copy: Edith and Elizabeth Thompson and Hilda, Elsie and Rosfrith Murray. The book is a celebration of the contribution of these women, and of others whose work made the Dictionary possible.

Mostly lost to history, these women were outnumbered and overruled by their male counterparts. Many words and meanings important to women in England at the time were omitted from the Dictionary because of male-centred moralising.

In my view, the story could have been more powerful if it didn't veer into predictable pre-war family storylines halfway through, but nevertheless it's an engaging and thought-provoking story about the importance of language and our place in it.