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'Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the ‘Scriptorium’, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word ‘bondmaid’ flutters to the floor. Esme rescues the slip and stashes it in an old wooden case that belongs to her friend, Lizzie, a young servant in the big house. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men. They help her make sense of the world.
'Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings relating to women’s experiences often go unrecorded. While she dedicates her life to the Oxford English Dictionary, secretly, she begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication :
For Ma and Pa
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Number 8 on the Better Reading's 2001 Top 100
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
- Large print.
Works about this Work
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My Ten Best Novels of 2020
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: SF Commentary : The Independent Magazine About Science Fiction , May no. 106 2021; (p. 28-33) -
Kate Grenville, Sofie Laguna, Julia Baird and Others : The 20 Best Australian Books of 2020
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 17 December 2020; -
How the Oxford English Dictionary Was Brought to Life in a Rustic 'scriptorium'
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , April 2020;'Just to work from "A" to "ant" took the original Oxford English Dictionary team around 10 years.'
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Pip Williams : The Dictionary of Lost Words
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 11-17 April 2020;
— Review of The Dictionary of Lost Words 2020 single work novel'At one point early on in this excellent debut novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words, set in Oxford 120 years ago, it appears as though Esme may have to choose between getting married and becoming an editor, a choice that doesn’t seem as outdated as it should. Esme actually has no interest in getting married just then, whereas – like her father – she has a natural predilection for words.' (Introduction)
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Book Review : The Dictionary of Lost Words
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 8 April 2020;
— Review of The Dictionary of Lost Words 2020 single work novel
-
Book Review : The Dictionary of Lost Words
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 8 April 2020;
— Review of The Dictionary of Lost Words 2020 single work novel -
Pip Williams : The Dictionary of Lost Words
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 11-17 April 2020;
— Review of The Dictionary of Lost Words 2020 single work novel'At one point early on in this excellent debut novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words, set in Oxford 120 years ago, it appears as though Esme may have to choose between getting married and becoming an editor, a choice that doesn’t seem as outdated as it should. Esme actually has no interest in getting married just then, whereas – like her father – she has a natural predilection for words.' (Introduction)
-
How the Oxford English Dictionary Was Brought to Life in a Rustic 'scriptorium'
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , April 2020;'Just to work from "A" to "ant" took the original Oxford English Dictionary team around 10 years.'
-
Quarantine Q&A : Pip Williams
2016
single work
interview
— Appears in: Feminist Writers Festival 2016-; -
Kate Grenville, Sofie Laguna, Julia Baird and Others : The 20 Best Australian Books of 2020
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 17 December 2020; -
My Ten Best Novels of 2020
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: SF Commentary : The Independent Magazine About Science Fiction , May no. 106 2021; (p. 28-33)
Awards
- 2021 winner Booksellers Choice Award — Adult Fiction Book of the Year
- 2021 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — People's Choice Award
- 2021 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
- 2021 shortlisted The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
- 2021 winner MUD Literary Prize
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Oxford,
Oxfordshire,
cEngland,ccUnited Kingdom (UK),cWestern Europe, Europe,