The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
📖 The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams — ⭐⭐⭐ (3/5 Stars)
Ohhhh this one is tricky. 😅 I admired this book. I respected this book. I even enjoyed this book.
But did I always feel this book?
Not exactly.
Let’s spill the tea. ☕
⚠️ Trigger Warnings
Child abuse (boarding school)
Abortion (attempted, illegal procedure context)
Infant adoption / forced separation
Death (parent, spouse, war casualties)
War (WWI)
Grief & depression
Class discrimination
Sexism / gender inequality
📚 Overview
The Dictionary of Lost Words (2020) by Pip Williams is a historical novel inspired by the real compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the women’s suffrage movement, and World War I. It won multiple awards in Australia and became an international bestseller.
The premise? Deliciously nerdy. 🤓
What if the words missing from the dictionary weren’t accidental… but intentional?
What if the voices of women, the poor, and the uneducated were quietly left out of history?
As someone who loves language (and has a math degree but secretly loves words just as much 😉), I found the concept absolutely fascinating. I had never really thought about who decides what words “count.”
But here’s the thing…
I struggled with the “why should I care?” feeling when it came to the characters.
🚨 SPOILER WARNING 🚨
Full plot summary below — including the ending.
📖 Full Plot Summary (With Spoilers)
Part 1: The Scriptorium & The Lost Slips
Esme Nicoll grows up inside the “Scriptorium,” the shed where Dr. James Murray and his team compile the first Oxford English Dictionary. Her father, Harry, works as an assistant.
As a child, Esme notices that word slips sometimes fall to the floor — and sometimes they’re quietly discarded. She begins collecting them. Words that seem small. Words used by women. Words not deemed “worthy.”
She stores them in a box labeled:
The Dictionary of Lost Words.
Already, I love the symbolism. 🥹
But even early on, I felt slightly emotionally detached from Esme. I understood her intellectually. I just didn’t always feel her.
Esme is eventually sent to a boarding school that turns out to be abusive. She’s stuck there far too long. Her aunt Ditte refuses to help her escape when asked, which deeply wounds Esme. Eventually her father learns the truth and transfers her to a local high school.
Part 2: Back to Words — And Missing Ones
After finishing school, Esme works in the Scriptorium alongside her father.
A letter arrives pointing out that a word is missing from the dictionary. Esme realizes it’s a word she once collected: “bondmaid.”
This is where the book really shines conceptually.
Esme begins to notice that words connected to women’s lives — menstruation, childbirth, domestic labor, lower-class speech — are either excluded or minimized.
She befriends Lizzie, the Murray family’s maid, and starts collecting words from working-class women.
And this is the part I truly loved.
The research and process of dictionary-making? Fascinating. The idea that language shapes power? Brilliant.
But emotionally? I was still hovering at arm’s length.
Part 3: Suffragettes, Love, and Loss
Esme befriends Tilda, an actress and suffragette, who brings her into political activism circles. She meets Bill (Tilda’s brother), and they begin a sexual relationship.
Esme becomes pregnant.
She seeks an abortion, but it’s too late.
Her aunt Ditte arranges for friends emigrating to Australia to adopt the baby. Esme gives birth to a daughter, Megan, and watches her be taken away.
This should have absolutely wrecked me.
And yet… I found myself thinking instead of feeling. I appreciated the tragedy. I respected the social commentary. But I didn’t cry. I didn’t ache.
Part 4: Grief & A Women’s Dictionary
Esme retreats to the countryside with Lizzie to recover from her depression.
Eventually she returns and decides to compile her own women’s dictionary — preserving the words that the official OED excluded.
This is the intellectual heart of the novel.
Her father Harry dies of a stroke.
The suffragette movement intensifies.
Esme debates the ethics of militant protest.
She grows closer to Gareth, a compositor who genuinely respects her mind.
They marry.
Part 5: War & Devastation
World War I begins.
Many of the men from the Scriptorium enlist.
Gareth is drafted shortly after their marriage.
He gives Esme a bound copy of her women’s dictionary — a beautiful symbolic gesture.
Then he dies in the war.
Dr. Murray also dies, and the Scriptorium is dismantled.
The physical space that defined Esme’s childhood disappears.
It’s a quiet, layered kind of devastation.
Part 6: The Ending
Years later, Aunt Ditte writes to Megan in Australia, explaining who her biological mother was.
Megan grows up to become a professor and language scholar. She speaks at an Oxford Dictionary celebration, honoring Esme and her work.
In the end, Esme’s voice — and the voices she preserved — are not entirely lost.
Which is lovely.
Quietly lovely.
🤔 So Why Only 3 Stars?
Here’s my honest struggle:
I loved the concept.
I loved the historical backdrop.
I loved the linguistic nerdiness.
I loved the feminist themes.
But I didn’t consistently feel emotionally invested in Esme as a person.
And I can never quite articulate why that happens with some books and not others. Sometimes an author flips a switch and I’m ALL IN. Other times I’m standing outside the glass, admiring the structure.
This was the latter for me.
I admire this novel deeply.
I just didn’t fall in love with it.
📌 Final Thoughts
If you love:
📚 Literary historical fiction
🗞️ The suffrage movement
🧠 Stories about language & power
🏛️ Oxford academia vibes
✊ Feminist reclamation narratives
You will probably appreciate this more than I did emotionally.
And honestly? Even at 3 stars, I’m glad I read it. It made me think about dictionaries differently — and that’s saying something.
📖 If You Liked This, Try:
The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Possession by A.S. Byatt
The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Would I recommend it?
Yes — to the right reader.
Did I personally connect on a deep emotional level?
Not quite.
But I’ll never look at a dictionary the same way again. 📖✨
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