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A review by carlisbookshelf
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
4.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 out of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (rounding it up to 4 because the ending made me weep.)
The Dictionary of Lost Words centers around our main character, Esme Nicoll, a young girl who grew up motherless and surrounded by a world of words and her father’s work on the first edition of the Oxford Dictionary. Ever the curious young woman, Esme took a unique fascination to the Scriptorium her dad and his fellow lexicographers worked at & the countless new words found in every nook and cranny.
We watch Esme grow up before our eyes & follow her journey from childhood into her adulthood, watching her relationship with words and the Scrippy evolve as she does. Esme goes through trials and tribulations that, even though the story takes place in the late 1800’s and continues into the height of the Women’s Suffragette movement in early 1900’s, is still relevant today. It’s a beautiful story and, damn, you can tell the author did her damn research and put every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears into this baby.
I truly loved Esme as a character (especially her relationship with Lizzie). I thought she was a beautifully written protagonist with just the right amount of nuance. But, I definitely found myself resonating more with her journey later on in her life, as opposed to in the first 1/3 of the book. (Which helped pull me through to the end).
The blending of fictional characters with real-life editors & contributors to the original edition of the Dictionary definitely made parts of this book slightly easier to get through. The reason I didn’t rate this book higher is because it’s a *very* slow-paced read and my big, dumb ADHD brain definitely struggled to maintain interest despite it all (I think that’s to be expected with historical fiction, especially as well-researched as this novel).
Life Hack: I ended up downloading and following along with the audiobook for most of the book which helped me significantly
The Dictionary of Lost Words centers around our main character, Esme Nicoll, a young girl who grew up motherless and surrounded by a world of words and her father’s work on the first edition of the Oxford Dictionary. Ever the curious young woman, Esme took a unique fascination to the Scriptorium her dad and his fellow lexicographers worked at & the countless new words found in every nook and cranny.
We watch Esme grow up before our eyes & follow her journey from childhood into her adulthood, watching her relationship with words and the Scrippy evolve as she does. Esme goes through trials and tribulations that, even though the story takes place in the late 1800’s and continues into the height of the Women’s Suffragette movement in early 1900’s, is still relevant today. It’s a beautiful story and, damn, you can tell the author did her damn research and put every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears into this baby.
I truly loved Esme as a character (especially her relationship with Lizzie). I thought she was a beautifully written protagonist with just the right amount of nuance. But, I definitely found myself resonating more with her journey later on in her life, as opposed to in the first 1/3 of the book. (Which helped pull me through to the end).
The blending of fictional characters with real-life editors & contributors to the original edition of the Dictionary definitely made parts of this book slightly easier to get through. The reason I didn’t rate this book higher is because it’s a *very* slow-paced read and my big, dumb ADHD brain definitely struggled to maintain interest despite it all (I think that’s to be expected with historical fiction, especially as well-researched as this novel).
Life Hack: I ended up downloading and following along with the audiobook for most of the book which helped me significantly