At a glance
Pages386
First published2020
SettingOxford and London, Edwardian era
Reading time~12h
AudienceAdult
ISBN1984820745
About the Author
Pip Williams1 book reviewed
The Dictionary of Lost Words
by Pip Williams
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for: Readers drawn to character-driven historical fiction with an intellectual backbone — particularly those with an interest in language, literary history, the women's suffrage movement, or the making of the Oxford English Dictionary.
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The Dictionary of Lost Words is Pip Williams's debut historical novel, following Esme — a girl raised among the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary — as she secretly collects the words deemed unworthy of the official record, weaving together the women's suffrage movement and the First World War into a richly researched portrait of whose language gets preserved and whose gets erased. A New York Times bestseller and the first Australian novel selected for Reese Witherspoon's Book Club, it earns praise from critics as "an imaginative love letter to dictionaries" with genuine emotional and political weight. Readers who prize immersive, character-driven historical fiction with an intellectual backbone will find it deeply rewarding — but those who prefer fast-paced plotting should be aware that Williams commits fully to the expansive, detail-dense tempo of 19th-century storytelling.
- Is it worth reading?
- For its intended audience, The Dictionary of Lost Words delivers handsomely. Critics have called it 'a lexicographer's dream of a novel,' 'an imaginative love letter to dictionaries,' and — per The New York Times — 'delightful… a captivating and slyly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on the Oxford English Dictionary shaped the language.' Bookreporter notes that Williams 'will convince you of a word's importance in a most lovely and charismatic story,' and fellow author Marie Benedict described it as 'a delight and an education.' The key caveat: those who prefer plot-driven momentum over the immersive, detail-dense pacing of a 19th-century-style novel may find the tempo a challenge.
- Similar books
- Readers who enjoy The Dictionary of Lost Words tend to gravitate toward historical fiction that centers women's voices in richly researched period settings. Carnegie's Maid by Marie Benedict — who herself praised Williams's novel — similarly reconstructs the hidden contributions of a woman operating in the shadow of a famous man. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn shares the suffrage-era and wartime backdrop alongside a focus on women whose work went unacknowledged. March by Geraldine Brooks, like Williams's novel, reimagines a familiar history from a perspective the official record left out. Trust by Hernan Diaz is another formally inventive literary novel that interrogates whose version of events gets written down and preserved. All five are rendered on the cards below.
- Who should read this?
- The Dictionary of Lost Words is designed for readers drawn to character-driven historical fiction with an intellectual backbone — those who enjoy novels that, as the review puts it, 'smuggle serious questions about power, gender, and representation into richly detailed period settings.' Readers with a particular interest in language, literary history, or the Edwardian suffrage era are especially well served. Author Susan Wiggs called it 'charming, inventive, and utterly irresistible… the story we all need right now,' a sentiment echoed by its broad bestseller and book-club reception. Those who prefer faster-paced plotting over immersive, detail-dense prose are the one group most likely to find it a mismatch.
- What are the main themes?
- At its core, The Dictionary of Lost Words interrogates who holds the power to define a language — and by extension, to define history itself. The novel argues that the OED's official record reflects a history written by men, and that an entire parallel vocabulary of women's experience was quietly discarded. Woven through this are the interconnected themes of gender and class (the words excluded belong to women and the working class), the politics of knowledge and representation, and the way institutional authority shapes cultural memory. The suffrage movement and the First World War amplify these themes by showing Esme's world in active, violent transformation.
- Is this a good book club pick?
- The Dictionary of Lost Words is a strong book club choice, particularly for groups who enjoy discussing questions of power, representation, and history alongside character-driven storytelling. Its selection for Reese Witherspoon's Book Club — a programme built around communal reading and discussion — signals that the novel's themes translate well into group conversation. The interplay between Esme's personal stakes, the OED's real editorial history, and the suffrage and wartime context gives clubs rich thematic terrain. The novel's deliberately expansive pace also rewards the kind of close, attentive reading that book club formats encourage.
- Is this Pip Williams's only book?
- The review covers The Dictionary of Lost Words as Pip Williams's debut novel. No other works by Williams are discussed in LuvemBooks' coverage, so readers curious about her broader bibliography are encouraged to check a bookseller or library catalogue for her most current titles. The debut's reception — a New York Times bestseller, Reese's Book Club pick, and warm critical response — has given Williams a substantial platform for any subsequent work.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
What are the main themes?
Is this a good book club pick?
Is this Pip Williams's only book?
Summarize this book
Set during the decades-long creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Dictionary of Lost Words follows Esme, who grows up literally beneath the table where her father and his colleagues assemble the great lexicographical project. She begins collecting the words that fall through the cracks — terms used by women, the working class, and those whose speech the official compilers judged unworthy of record. Against the backdrop of the women's suffrage movement and the approaching First World War, the novel builds a fictional 'shadow dictionary' that poses the question: who decides which words — and whose experiences — deserve to be preserved in the historical record? Penguin Random House describes it as a novel that 'reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men.'
Follow up
What is the 'shadow dictionary' idea?
Is the OED history in the novel real?
How does the First World War fit in?
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Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Adult
Reading level
Adult
Content to know about
wartime death and loss
women's suffrage-era political violence
Skip if you want a fast-paced, plot-driven story rather than a slow-burn, immersive historical narrative.
Editorial Review
Pip Williams's debut novel, a New York Times bestseller and the first Australian novel selected for Reese Witherspoon's Book Club, weaves a fictional narrative through the real history of the Oxford English Dictionary's creation, centering the women and words that were left out of the official record.
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