Roaring Spring Public Library

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams is a pleasure to read. This wonderful piece of historical fiction pulled me in, and I found myself unable to put it down. The novel compels the reader to understand the trials of bringing the first Oxford English Dictionary to life through the eyes of Esme. She is a motherless child whose father is a lexicographer for the OED and is confined to play under the sorting table where the team disseminate the words. As we grow up with Esme, we see the real historical life events (the suffrage movement, WW1 and the place of women in society) that influence...