Williams beautifully connects the loss of people with the loss of words ... Williams brilliantly ties in the influences of both the women’s suffrage movement and World War I ... If you’re a word lover, linguist, lexicographer or grammarian, this is the novel you’ve been waiting for without even realizing it. If you never thought of words in this way before, don’t worry: Williams will convince you of a word’s importance in a most lovely and charismatic story.
... inventive, absorbing ... Esme is a literary heroine with an idiosyncratic appeal that rivals Jo March ... her role model and constant companion is her lexicographer father, now amiably wedded to the dictionary. Their companionable relationship of equals is one of this novel's great pleasures: in a wonderful observed detail, he is that rare kind of man who rinses his own cup at the sink ... [an] absorbing, quietly revolutionary novel ... Pip Williams combines the storytelling scale and intimate detail of a 19th-century novel with the sensibility of now—and a cast of richly realised characters and relationships that are a pleasure to spend time with. And it has a rare quality that is, perhaps, especially valuable in this historical moment: it is deeply, intrinsically kind, without dipping into sentimentality. (There is conflict, but no villains. Even Esme's most infuriating antagonist is nuanced enough to glimpse another perspective at work.)
... the emotional story of Esme’s coming of age and eventual employment as part of the research team, against a backdrop of male-dominated employment and the emerging women’s suffrage movement ... 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 first novel that tells a fascinating story of language, love and loss.
Don’t gobble it, as I did the first time round—savour its heart-wrenching detail. Unfortunately, a close read does reveal the need for a tighter copy edit. It will certainly be a popular book-club choice. Time will tell whether it takes its place beside literary classics.
... [a] thoughtful and gentle first novel ... A lexicographer’s dream of a novel, this is a lovely book to get lost in, an imaginative love letter to dictionaries.
... [an] exuberant, meticulously researched debut ... Though this sweeping effort takes some time to build momentum, the payoff is deeply satisfying. Williams’s feminist take on language will move readers.
Williams provides readers with detailed background and biographical information pointing to extensive research about the OED and its editors, many of whom appear as characters in Esme’s life. The result is a satisfying amalgam of truth and historical fiction. Who tells your story? Williams illuminates why women needed to be in the room where, and when, it’s written.
