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Come join our book club for a discussion of ""The Dictionary of Lost Words" by Pip Williams Newcomers welcome!
Do words mean different things to men and women? That is the question at the heart of Williams’ thoughtful and gentle first novel based on original research in the Oxford English Dictionary archives and set during the women’s suffrage movement in England. Motherless Esme spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, the garden shed in the back of the house where her father works for the Scots-born lexicographer James Murray and his monk-like team, who are collecting words for the first edition of the OED. “Instead of storing shovels and rakes, the shed stored words .” Some slips of paper carrying words are misplaced or discarded, and it is these “lost ” words that Esme is determined to rescue from certain oblivion. The words that resonate with her range from the profane to the political. As Esme confronts sexism in her daily life, she finds solace in the meaning and significance of “women’s words ,” which address the female experience. A lexicographer’s dream of a novel, this is a lovely book to get lost in, an imaginative love letter to dictionaries .
This is hybrid meeting, we will be meeting in person, but there is an option to join us virtually if you would like. Email mccref@slcolibrary.org for information.