"The Dictionary of Lost Words" by Pip Williams

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
Call Number: FICTION Williams
Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed in which her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary . Young Esme's place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip and, learning that the word means "slave girl," begins to collect other words that have been discarded or neglected by the dictionary men. As she grows up, Esme realizes that words and meanings relating to women's and common folks' experiences often go unrecorded. And so she begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: the Dictionary of Lost Words. To do so she must leave the sheltered world of the university and venture out to meet the people whose words will fill those pages. Set during the height of the women's suffrage movement and with the Great War looming, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. Inspired by actual events, author Pip Williams has delved into the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary to tell this highly original story.

How does the protagonist, Esme, navigate the male-dominated world of lexicography? What challenges does she face as a woman in this field, and how does she overcome them?
Language plays a central role in the novel. What significance do you think the "lost words" hold, both within the narrative and in the broader context of language evolution?
The novel is set during a time of significant social and political change, including the women's suffrage movement and World War I. How do these historical events influence the characters and their actions?
Esme's relationship with the suffragists, particularly her mother and Tilda, is complex. How do their differing perspectives on feminism and activism shape Esme's own beliefs and actions?
The novel explores the power dynamics inherent in language, particularly in terms of who gets to define and control it. How do characters like Dr. Murray and Professor Winchester wield this power, and what are the consequences?
Esme's journey of self-discovery is intertwined with her exploration of language and its meanings. How does her understanding of herself evolve throughout the novel?
The dictionary project serves as a metaphor for the ways in which marginalized voices are often overlooked or excluded from mainstream discourse. How does the novel challenge traditional notions of language and representation?
The novel raises questions about the nature of truth and authority, particularly in relation to historical records and language documentation. How do characters grapple with conflicting narratives and interpretations of events?
The friendship between Esme and Lizzie is a central aspect of the novel. How does their relationship evolve over time, and what does it reveal about the power of connection and solidarity?
What do you think the novel ultimately suggests about the importance of language in shaping our understanding of the world and ourselves? How does it resonate with contemporary debates about language, gender, and power?

Pip Williams is an Australian author known for her debut novel "The Dictionary of Lost Words," which was published in 2020. Before becoming a novelist, Williams had a diverse career that included roles in various fields such as publishing, arts administration, and fundraising.

Originally from London, Pip Williams moved to Australia in the early 2000s, where she pursued her passion for writing. She has expressed a deep interest in history, particularly in the stories of women and marginalized communities, which is evident in her writing.

"The Dictionary of Lost Words" garnered widespread acclaim for its compelling storytelling and meticulous research. The novel explores themes of language, feminism, and social change through the story of a young girl growing up in the shadow of Oxford's iconic dictionary.

While specific details about Pip Williams' personal life and career trajectory may not be readily available, her work as an author has left a significant mark on the literary landscape, earning her recognition and praise from readers and critics alike.

Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner
Call Number: Fic Jenner
Natalie Jenner, the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society, returns with a compelling and heartwarming story of post-war London, a century-old bookstore, and three women determined to find their way in a fast-changing world in Bloomsbury Girls. Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare book store that has persisted and resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the general manager's unbreakable fifty-one rules. But in 1950, the world is changing, especially the world of books and publishing, and at Bloomsbury Books, the girls in the shop have plans: Vivien Lowry: Single since her aristocratic fiance was killed in action during World War II, the brilliant and stylish Vivien has a long list of grievances--most of them well justified and the biggest of which is Alec McDonough, the Head of Fiction. Grace Perkins: Married with two sons, she's been working to support the family following her husband's breakdown in the aftermath of the war. Torn between duty to her family and dreams of her own. Evie Stone: In the first class of female students from Cambridge permitted to earn a degree, Evie was denied an academic position in favor of her less accomplished male rival. Now she's working at Bloomsbury Books while she plans to remake her own future. As they interact with various literary figures of the time--Daphne Du Maurier, Ellen Doubleday, Sonia Blair (widow of George Orwell), Samuel Beckett, Peggy Guggenheim, and others--these three women with their complex web of relationships, goals and dreams are all working to plot out a future that is richer and more rewarding than anything society will allow.
Vox by Christina Dalcher
Call Number: FICTION Dalcher
Set in a United States in which half the population has been silenced, Vox is the harrowing, unforgettable story of what one woman will do to protect herself and her daughter. On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than one hundred words per day, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial. This can't happen here. Not in America. Not to her. Soon women are not permitted to hold jobs. Girls are not taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words each day, but now women have only one hundred to make themselves heard. For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice. This is just the beginning...not the end.
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
Call Number: FICTION FAWCETT
Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people . She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people. So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, muddle Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her. But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Call Number: FICTION Harrow
In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut. In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place. Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own. Lush and richly imagined, a tale of impossible journeys, unforgettable love, and the enduring power of stories awaits in Alix E. Harrow's spellbinding debut--step inside and discover its magic.
The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams
Call Number: FICTION Williams
An award-winning novel that chronicles the charming misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman put on his trail a century later to root out his misdeeds while confronting questions of her own sexuality and place in the world. Mountweazel n. the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement. In the final year of the nineteenth century, Peter Winceworth is toiling away at the letter S for Swansby's multivolume Encyclopaedic Dictionary . But his disaffection with his colleagues compels him to assert some individual purpose and artistic freedom, and he begins inserting unauthorized, fictitious entries. In the present day, Mallory, the publisher's young intern, starts to uncover these mountweazels in the process of digitization and through them senses their creator's motivations, hopes, and desires. More pressingly, she's also been contending with a threatening, anonymous caller who wants Swansby's staff to "burn in hell." As these two narratives coalesce, Winceworth and Mallory, separated by one hundred years, must discover how to negotiate the complexities of life's often untrustworthy, hoax-strewn, and undefinable path.

Islington Branch Book Club - Past Titles: "The Dictionary of Lost Words" by Pip Williams

"The Dictionary of Lost Words" by Pip Williams

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