A review by bethcgreenberg
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

5.0

Anyone who truly loves words will enjoy reading this fictionalized account of the first Oxford English Dictionary. Through the eyes of young Esme, we see the process of how words are proposed, supported, and included or excluded based on a set of factors the original dictionary creators had to invent. We take so much for granted today! There were some gorgeous passage disguised as definitions- love, lost, mother, to name a few. I'm so pleased the author gave us this insight into the cultural biases against women and "underclasses"- it was truly eye opening.