This is a wonderful read that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is well written and full of wonderful research relating to the evolution and production of the first edition of the OED. I was fascinated by this as a backdrop for the main story of Esme, our narrator. The book is set in Oxford; a city that I know well, and I loved walking the streets with Esme as her tale develops.

The book is ostensibly about Esme and follows her through her life and beyond. It is a story about love and self discovery, and so much more! Esme lives a narrow life in Oxford, being raised by her father ('Da'). This novel starts with her as a little girl, spending her days at her father's feet while he works for Dr James Murray researching the contents of the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. But her life is enriched as she explores a variety of relationships with those around her: Lizzie, a 'bondmaid'; Bill and Tilda: actors and revolutionaries; Ditte and Beth, sisters who influence her life and help provide protection at a time of need; Gareth, a local compositor and suitor; Mabel, a local beggar woman... all of these relationships help Esme refine what it means to be human.

However, what I really loved about this book, was its exploration of the slipperiness of language and the constant need for language to evolve and shift like quicksand: 'Words are like stories...they change as they are passes from mouth to mouth; their menaing stretch or truncate to fit what needs to be said.' It is at her father's workplace (The Scriptorium) that Esme develops her love of words and constantly searches for new definitions and precision to aid her understanding of the world. As a child, Esme 'rescues' words which are not deemed as suitable or definable by the scholars working for Dr Murray, and due to this, the 'problem words are excluded from publication in the dictionary. As Esme's vocabulary and understanding of the world develops she realises the gendered nature of the scholars' endeavours and begins her own collection of ' women's words'. She chooses to forge her own path, writing down what is only spoken rather than published because 'they're just as important as the words Dr Murray and Da collect.'

This book draws attention to the gendered nature of language and the ways in which women are sidelined and excluded, almost regardless of their lifestyle and education. I relished the fact that many of the characters and events are based on truth and research: I was captivated from the start!

With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

This is a book which tackles a number of important and interesting themes deceptively lightly. It is enjoyable and well written, and left me thinking about it for a good while after finishing it.

Esme's mother dies giving birth to her in the latter years of the 19th century, leaving her father, unconventionally for the Victorian age, to bring her up alone. Her father works with Dr Murray's team in Oxford, compiling the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in a glorified garden shed affectionately known as the Scriptorium. From quite an early age, Esme goes to the Scrippy with her father and sits under the table where all the researchers work, picking up new words, semantically as well as literally in the form of definition slips which are lost or discarded. She learns to savour the various meanings and usages, and as she grows older she starts to develop a concern about the words that are left out - ostensibly because they have not been used in a written piece of work, but the implications of this decision on recording the voices of women, illiterate working class people, speakers of local dialects, and other marginalised groups are extensive.

Other themes dealt with include, on a personal level, the implications of getting pregnant out of wedlock and the effect of giving up a child for adoption. On a societal level, the novel touches upon the impact of historical events such as the arrival of WW1 and the growth of the women's suffrage movement in England.

As a character Esme could perhaps have been developed further, but she provides a compelling picture of a woman at the turn of the 20th century living through turbulent personal and historic times. Also compelling is the character of Lizzie, the scullery maid only a few years older than Esme who becomes a surrogate mother figure for her and provides the working class perspective on life.

Although not especially profound, this is a book that provides a female perspective on a period of history often told from the male point of view. It is an enjoyable addition to a growing body of literature giving prominence to marginalised voices.

The Oxford English Dictionary started life in little more than a garden shed. This wonderfully absorbing book chronicles the development of the dictionary under the editorship of Dr Murray working with his team in Oxford. With a mix of real-life figures and fictional ones – expertly blended into a cohesive whole – the story centres on Esme, Murray’s daughter, who is not only a contributor to the dictionary but also a witness to and participant in many of the major events of the first half of the 20th century, including the Suffrage movement and WWI. Well-written, well-crafted and well-paced, the book is a delight and a great insight into the craft of lexicography. The lost words of the title are the words that weren’t considered valuable or important enough to be included in the dictionary but for which Esme fought, true to her belief that ALL words have a value, even if they are those of the uneducated or lower-classes. The novel wears its research lightly and informs as it entertains. Esme is a remarkable character and I’m so happy to have met her.

Set in Oxford, England, the novel spans over forty years, from the late Victorian period, through the Great Wars to the end of the 1920s, as told in the first person by Esme Nicoll. Esme is a precocious, motherless child with a doting father, who is employed as a lexicographer on the development of the first Oxford English Dictionary. As she plays under the word-sorting table, the young Esme starts to collect dropped and discarded word slips. She keeps them in a tin box under the maid’s bed. Over the years she accumulates enough lost words to create an alternative dictionary that represents women’s suffering.
The Dictionary of Lost Words concerns itself with the gaps between the lines of the dominant male narrative, choosing instead the usually overlooked, everyday language of ordinary women. It’s a masterfully written, beautiful debut that tells a fascinating story of language, love and loss.

This historical novel covers the important political issues of the time in which it is set, namely the First World War and the development of the women’s suffrage movement, against the back drop of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Using a mixture of fact and fiction, as well as real life people and fictional characters Pip Williams invites you on a journey told through the eyes of Esme from childhood to adulthood. We experience her growing and changing, we get to feel a part of the relationships she forms and feel a bond with the characters.

The most interesting aspect for me was the role of women in society throughout history. There is Lizzie who whilst fully aware of her place and position is actually so much more than a maid to Esme and demonstrates self-awareness and happiness in equal measure. Whilst her position differs from other females in the story the recurring theme throughout is one of dedication and hard work without appropriate recognition.

My thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review. I must also extend my gratitude to the publishers and the author Pip Williams.

Esme’s father is one of the lexicographers working on the Oxford English Dictionary. As Esme gets older, she becomes involved both in his work and in women’s suffrage. This is why she starts collecting words that were not permitted in this very masculine dictionary: the ones used in everyday life, particularly by or about women, along with regional words. Fully aware of their power, she starts creating The Dictionary of Lost Words.

♥️ I liked:⁠
📖 The power of words. “Words define us, they explain us, and, on occasion, they serve to control or isolate us.” How true is this? Words can tell us so much: where a person grew up, where he or she is living now, their social background. It's crazy if you think about it!
🔖 The Lost Words. “... words in common use (...) would necessarily be excluded. Your concern that some types of words will be lost to the future is really quite perceptive.” This is also very interesting. It's true that only what can be written is considered an official language. The funny thing, though, is that from my experience, languages evolve in the opposite direction. Very often they are influenced and changed over time by how people speak in their everyday life.
👩 The historical background. We are presented with two important chapters of our history: WWI and the suffragette movement. I loved how Esme began to notice how the words in the Dictionary were not those of women, poor and disenfranchised. A different and more subtle form of discrimination.

🤔 I wasn't so sure about:
It's a bit slow. The first part of the book is not easy. You really need to be willing to go on with it. But when you reach the point where Esme is an adult, the story is much more dynamic.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 This book can be approached in two ways: as a really interesting story of words and linguistic, perfect for those who love language. Or as a great story, filled with lovely characters.

* Contains spoilers​ *

This is the story of Esme, a fictional character who is woven into the real story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). From a small child, Esme is part of the 'Scriptorium', the glorified shed at the bottom of the garden of Dr James Murray, primary editor of the OED. She watches her father and the other lexicographers collect words, check their authenticity and record their meanings. As she gets older, Esme realises that some words are rejected from the dictionary because they are used by the lower classes, by women, and so are not seen as important. In retaliation Esme begins her own dictionary, The Dictionary of Lost Words.

This historical fiction novel starts in the late 1800s and takes us on quite the journey with Esme - there are themes covering grief, single parenthood, unplanned pregnancy, women's rights and female friendship amongst the overarching story of the creation of two dictionaries! Williams clearly feels strongly about the struggle for female emancipation and the theme of women's suffrage comes through clearly in the chapters involving Esme's friendship with actress Tilda.

I really enjoyed the scenes that Esme had with market stall holder Mabel, who introduced her to all sorts of women's words and their uses, especially some of the more unsavoury ones! I do find it interesting how men and women use language differently and how language evolves over time (did you know that women use emojis more than men?), so this book fulfilled that nerdy part of me!

At times though it did feel that the author's modern feminist sensibilities were coming through, rather than from the viewpoint of a middle-class 20th century woman - and I say that as a 21st century feminist!

For me there was too much time spent on some elements that didn't add much to the story for me, including a whole chapter where Esme and her maid friend spend a month in Shropshire whilst she recovers from her depression after giving up her baby, where a couple of pages at most would have sufficed. There were a few other places where my attention wandered as there was a bit too much introspection by our protagonist and I did get a little bored about 1/3 of the way in waiting for something to happen.

There were also a lot of sandwiches consumed during this novel - I'm sure that the Victorians would have had other foodstuffs available but every lunch, picnic or supper consisted of sandwiches!

Anyone who enjoys reading and likes to learn new words and their meanings will really enjoy this book.

The Dictionary of Lost Words is an exquisite, startlingly original debut based on actual events, as a team of male scholars compiles the first Oxford English Dictionary, one of their daughters decides to collect the "objectionable" words they omit. Primarily set in Oxford the story covers a time span of more than 100 years: 1882–1989 and is based on true events, the central one being the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary by a team of dedicated lexicographers led by Sir James Murray, and helped by all of his 11 children. Murray began compiling the dictionary in 1879. It was unfinished at his death in 1915 and completed by his fellow editors in 1928. We are introduced to Esme Nicholl who is born into a world of words in 1882 and resides with her father, Harry, one of the esteemed lexicographers working under Murray to collect, sort and select the words that merit inclusion in the very first edition of the OED from a corrugated iron shed, known as the Scriptorium. It sits in the garden of Murray’s house - Sunnyside, located at 78 Bambury Road in Oxford where the lexicographers sort and assess the potential contributions sent to Murray by volunteers following his worldwide appeal for words to be included in the new dictionary. As Esme’s mother died during childbirth she is being raised by her progressive and deeply caring father with the help of an Irish maid, Lizzie, who isn't that much older than her. She finds the ”scrippy” enchanting and alluring and one day while lurking under the tables on which the most important work was being done, a discarded slip of paper falls into her lap.

Curious as to the reasoning behind the team’s decisions to enter some words whilst neglecting and disposing of those deemed inappropriate, Esme decides through her ever-burgeoning love of etymology to secretly create her own precious dictionary to hold words unfit for or not worthy of OED inclusion called The Dictionary of Lost Words. Inspired by the passion her father and the dictionary men have for their task, the first word she pockets is bondmaid. When she learns that the word means "slave girl," she begins to collect other words that have been discarded and stashes them away in a wooden chest belonging to friend, Lizzie. As she grows up, Esme realises that words and meanings relating to women's and common folks' experiences often go unrecorded. But to search out further words for her own dictionary she must leave the sheltered world of the university and venture out to meet the people whose words will fill those pages. Set in England and nestled between the era of the Great War and the women’s suffrage movement and World War I, we are treated to an exquisite, mesmerising and meticulously researched fact meets fiction story. It's a sweeping, richly described and beautifully written work infused with a deep love of the written word; it is very much an enchanting celebration of language and the part it plays in each of our lives. I enjoyed Williams’s feminist slant allowing many of the words Esme captures for her lexicon to be those set aside due to the patriarchal influences of the time thus making her a trailblazer of sorts. Highly recommended.

This a story of woman’s life adjacent to the story of how the Oxford English dictionary came into existence.
It takes place in Oxford, which I found delightful due to my familiarity with the area.

Although I really enjoyed this book, the fact that they tried to show how a woman can live a life divergent from, but still limited by, men’s and society’s expectations did make the evolution of events quite predictable.


One of my first comments about the book was “Amazing how so often the actual meaning of 'to mollify' is to make a man less angry by silencing or disregarding a woman or child." The incident that prompted that response occurred and then the narrative passed on and I wondered If I had misinterpreted the intent. However this is indicative of the book’s approach
At one point the characters touch on the question of whether the suffragettes’ militant action is achieving progress and which approach is more effective – word or actions. Unsurprisingly the book’s main characters prefer words.

Threaded throughout the narrative is the issue of a woman’s voice and society’s reaction to it, whether it is raised in protest for women’s right to vote or as a valid reference for words to be included in the dictionary. There are remarks and complaints about women being excluded or their opinions being considered less serious (often voice by Ditte the influential, intellectual and unmarried substitute aunty).
The narrative also touches on the fact that because women were under-educated and the poor were often illiterate their words describing their lives, and an important part of the Victorian human experience, were excluded from the dictionary while the idiotic words games of rich men were often included. (Several remarks led me to the conclusion that the author may not be a fan of Dickens)

But in an effort to avoid being militant the author seemed to shy away from directly confronting these issues which was frustrating and seemed to leave a story line incomplete at certain points. The only time Esme, the main protagonist, is forceful on the subject is when insisting her dictionary be shelved at the Bodleian Library

A solid 4.5 stars – I knocked half a star off because I would have preferred a little more passion about the issues and in the relationships.

I loved this story of Oxford lexicographer Esme, from her childhood sitting at her father's feet in the Scriptorium through to adulthood working on the dictionary herself, finding pain, heartache, love and fulfilment. Although Esme is fictional, she is embedded in a real-life world of the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary and I enjoyed all of the historical details, particularly those relating to women's suffrage.

A real joy to read and a story that I will remember for a long time.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

This was an interesting and thought provoking book. Esme is motherless and spends her days sitting under the sorting table of her Father , who works in the scriptorium , sorting through words to include in the first dictionary. Some words are discarded as of no value , some of the slips find their way onto the floor and these unwanted or lost words Esme squirrels away for herself.
Only words that are written down can be accepted by the scritoruim , so working class language isn't recorded as most people of that class couldn't write it down. As she grows up , Esme decides to collect these words herself so they are not lost. Some of the language is very crude , I grew up in a household with a middle class father who was a teacher and a working class mother , who had worked in a factory from an early age. She never went to school after the age of 11. Her writing and spelling was very good considering this. My understanding of language was very eclectic so I could relate to the storyline and what Esne was trying to do.
I did struggle at times with the pace of the book , it seemed really slow moving at certain points . On the whole a really well researched and informative read with insightful glimpses of how the power of words and language can shape or existance.

An incredibly well-researched novel about the first OED, the book moves from the late Victorian period, through the women’s suffrage movement and into the First World War. Told through Esme’s POV as she lives through this period, she is an interesting character that readers get to know as a inquisitive child into an intelligent women. I really enjoyed her character, and I thought the author did a great job of changing her tone as she grew up. She has wonderful growth in this novel as she tries to find her voice.
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I loved the idea of this story, with a focus on the history of the women of the time. Their words are missing from the Dictionary, so Esme gives them a voice. The educated class working on the OED reject words that have not been written down, so the language of the working class is missing, Esme visits the women working in the market to learn and record them. Yet for most of her life Esme also hides these words, as she has nowhere to show them, they are just for her for most of the novel. So even though she is trying to give women a voice she is still unable to do so. This book really highlights the restrictions put on women from the upper to the lower classes.
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Although the years move quickly the pacing of the novel was a little slow, especially in the first third of the novel, before Esme committed to her project, though it picks up as the story moves into the latter half of the book. There are a lot of short sections in the novel, and I did feel that it didn’t allow for readers to really connect to the secondary characters, who I found really interesting, such as Lizzie, Esme’s friend and a housemaid, Gareth who works for the Press, Esme’s father or her Aunt Ditte. I would have liked a little more time to get to know them better the way that Esme does.
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A fascinating period of history, I think fans of historical fiction will really enjoy this.

After reading The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams last year, I was left pondering the definition of words and who gets to set them. In Pip Williams' fascinating fictional account of the production of the first Oxford English Dictionary we get the answer: white men from scholarly upper class backgrounds.
The long timeline covered by the first edition starts pre 1900 and spans the suffragette movement and the First World War.. so perfect for a female fictional character to become involved in the suffrage and highlight the gender-bias in the definition of words, and the recovery of shell-shocked soldiers using Esperanto. The lost words being collected from people of working class backgrounds and from soldiers was another point to make in the construction origins of the OED. I am sure there are words in common usage from these that aren't all variations on women's anatomy but it was interesting to note there are so many derogatory words for females compared to men. My favourite discovery was the origin of the word bumpf (the junk mail of today) came from bum fodder - material to wipe your arse on!
The characters are a mixture of real and fictional but generally help to convey and highlight the attitudes of the era. I didn't realise that the blue-stocking girls allowed to eventually study at university were not given the satisfaction of a degree or a graduation, for example.
A fascinating and enlightening read.

This was a really interesting book, and it opened my eyes to a part of our history that is never really thought about, ie how our dictionary was compiled, but also the huge sexism around words at the time, and how the suffragette movement, and the war influenced it (or rather didn’t..)

I felt pretty sad reading this book a lot of the time, but I’ve certainly learnt a lot from it.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy

This is a fascinating read! It has great characters (Esme and Lizzie) and a great storyline- focusing on some key points such as the power and importance of words, as well as the voices of women during the war. A great read for fans of historical fiction. It’s a truly thought-provoking read!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this great ARC.

The Dictionary of Lost Words is an astonishing book. It’s is so beautifully written and moved me more than any other book for some time.
It is book about language and how words can mean many different things depending on the context and the person using them.
Esme is the daughter of one of the original lexicographers who worked on the First Oxford English Dictionary. She is a fictionalised character though most of the characters around her are not. The book tells the story of her life at the beginning of the 20th century, credibly weaving in the Suffragette Movement and the First World War. She makes it her life’s work to find those words that the Oxford Dictionary do not deem suitable for their pages and to document them honestly.
Esme is a wonderful character to explore this time in history with, it is not a fair time for women; they work but they are not acknowledged, they are constrained by all that men feel is decent. Throughout Esme lives honestly, regardless of what life throws at her. We cheer at her moments of true joy and cry with her at life’s many cruelties.
I adored this book, it is genuinely fascinating from an historical point of view and weaves an unforgettable story from
Esme’s life. I’ll be astonished if this isn’t one of my books of the year.
Thank you so much to #NetGalley and to #vintagebooks for suggesting I read this advance copy.

Love the narrative voice here, I am often not sure about child narrators but there were many depths to this story that meant the reader could be intrigued by what wasn’t being said. It’s a difficult trick to pull off successfully, to ensure that you convey depth of meaning without making the child appear more knowledgeable than they should be. An interesting read and well written.

Oh my, what a beautifully written book.
We follow the life of Esme Nicoll, from a little girl, who sits under her father’s table in The Scriptorium gathering lost words and watch her grow into a passionate woman as she lives through WW1, the Suffragette movement and beyond.
It’s gentle and warming and I really liked how Pip William’s brought the characters to life and explored Esme’s relationships with the people surrounding her.
This book made me smile, cry and appreciate just how powerful words can be.
A real treat for historical fiction lovers and I’m so grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an extraordinary book, not easily put into a genre, that really takes us on a journey through words. Esme loves words and their meanings and the work of collating these for a dictionary but she begins to realise that some words don’t make it and these are mainly words important to women. She is drawn into another world of strong and silent women and keeps her own word definitions. Beautifully written with the most under-played scenes of sorrow that are all the more affecting because of it. So much here to discuss and think about, a truly different story.

Well written and researched this was a thought provoking novel raising many interesting questions about the use and power of language. It’s main character, Esme, brought a dimension and humanisation to the events and it was easy to become caught up in her life and the events of the time.