The Dictionary of Lost Words

Reviews / Votes

A brilliant book about women and words - tender, moving and profound -- Jacqueline Wilson An extraordinary, charming novel... Williams pins a whole, rich life to the page * The Times * Poignant, perfectly paced... a beautifully nuanced work -- Eithne Farry * Mail on Sunday * I absolutely loved this book! Thought-provoking, touching and subtly romantic; I finished it in tears -- Katie Fforde Williams's satisfying novel animates a fascinating history and imbues it with a feminist slant, asking how words mean different things to men and women -- Patricia Nicol * Sunday Times * This lovely slice of historical fiction... A highly enjoyable resonant tale about the hidden and frequently gendered stories behind the words we take for granted -- Claire Allfree * Metro * A captivating and slyly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on the Oxford English Dictionary went largely unheralded -- Alida Becker * New York Times Book Review * A gorgeous, unique read * Sun * This immersive, scrupulously researched debut provides poignant commentary on the ownership of language -- Hephzibah Anderson * Mail on Sunday * An enchanting story about love, loss and the power of language, what gets recorded and what gets forgotten. Set at a time when women's voices were clamouring more than ever to be heard, it moved me greatly to think how history is skewed by those who hold power -- and how important it is that novels like this redress that balance -- Elizabeth Macneal, author or The Doll Factory