The Dictionary of Lost Words

Name: The Dictionary of Lost Words
ISBN: 9787544884570

皮普·威廉姆斯 / 闻若婷Jieli Publishing House · ChinaAug 2024

4.3

Word count: 214K words
Chapters: 40
ISBN: 9787544884570

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Summary

In 1857, the Philological Society of London decided to undertake a century-long project: compiling the most authoritative and complete English dictionary ever made. A team of lexicographers led by Dr. James Murray publicly called on the world for words. Every day, words arrived by the thousands from around the globe, and the lexicographers examined, selected, and wrote final definitions for them one by one. The daughter of one of the lexicographers, Esme, grew up surrounded by words and loved them from an early age. Whenever she met with setbacks, she always found solace in the definition of some word. But what drew her attention most were the words ignored, despised, or discarded by the male lexicographers—and the vast majority of these words concerned women.

Esme secretly collected these words, which she called "lost words," and even began writing down the various expressions she heard from markets, prostitutes, and maidservants. If these words were never printed in a volume, they would remain a secret forever... Based on true events, this book vividly re-creates through gorgeous prose the work of the lexicographers and the editorial details of the great dictionary, and tells a moving story hidden behind male-written history amid the tremendous changes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Editor's review

The Dictionary of Lost Words is a unique and warm novel by the British author Pip Williams. This book is not a dictionary in the traditional sense; rather, it tells the story of a "dictionary" that collects words never written down, weaving together the fates of four generations of women into a moving narrative about language, memory, and female inheritance. With delicate strokes, Williams portrays women's resilience and connection against the backdrop of the First World War; the dictionary is not merely a collection of words but a vessel for emotion and historical memory. The novel skillfully combines the pleasures of linguistics with the weight of a family epic, exploring how "absence" shapes existence and how unspoken feelings can be preserved and passed on in another way. Reading this book, you will feel a perspective different from conventional historical novels—it focuses not on the smoke of the battlefield but on how women on the home front, in the cracks of their era, used silent creation to resist forgetting and private words to define emotions and experiences that public language could not capture. The prose is beautiful and restrained, the structure exquisite, like a quiet yet deeply affecting conversation, worth savoring slowly.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with a strong interest in linguistics, the origins of words, or the history of dictionary compilation
Readers who prefer quiet, delicate family narratives focused on women's fates and emotional inheritance
Readers who enjoy uncovering hidden personal stories and humanistic concern within historical settings
Literary lovers seeking unique narrative structures and appreciate turning a concept (such as 'absence') into the core of a story

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting fast pacing, strong plot conflict, or mystery and detective elements
Readers more interested in the grand military and political issues of WWI than in the microcosmic life of the home front

Reading tips

It can be treated as a 'slow book'; there is no need to pursue rapid plot advancement—it is better enjoyed in quiet hours, savoring the subtle emotions and historical texture between the lines.
Pay attention to how the 'dictionary' as a core device evolves from a mere object into a symbol carrying memory, emotion, and intergenerational bonds.
While reading, consider: what emotions or moments are deeply meaningful to you personally yet difficult to find perfect words for in common language?

About the publisher

Jieli Publishing House China · Founded in 1990

Jieli Publishing House is a publisher focusing on young people's reading, with a distinctive strength in making classical literature and classic works accessible to a broad readership. Its catalogue contains 224 titles, with common categories including classical literature, classic works, history books and science fiction. Representative books include the Chinese classics series such as Dream of the Red Chamber: An Appreciation Edition, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West, illustrated editions of foreign classics such as Eugénie Grandet and Around the World in Eighty Days, and history titles such as Records of the Grand Historian: An Appreciation Edition. Its authors and editors include classical writers Cao Xueqin, Gao E, Luo Guanzhong and Wu Cheng'en, editors Zhao Huaxia, Wang Yiqing and Chen Xiaohui, and foreign writers such as Balzac. The press uses appreciation and illustrated editions to lower the threshold for reading classics, serving both exam-related and extracurricular reading needs; as public information is limited, other publishing features are not discussed here.

版权信息
关于作者
关于译者
序言一八八六年二月
第一章一八八七年至一八九六年
一八八七年五月
一八八八年四月
一八九一年四月
一八九三年八月
一八九五年九月
第二章一八九七年至一九〇一年
一八九七年八月
一八九八年四月
一八九八年九月
一九〇一年八月
第三章一九〇二年至一九〇七年
一九〇二年五月
一九〇六年五月
一九〇六年六月
一九〇六年十二月
一九〇七年三月
第四章一九〇七年至一九一三年
一九〇七年九月
一九〇七年十一月
一九〇八年十一月
一九〇九年五月
一九一二年十二月
一九一三年一月
一九一三年五月
第五章一九一四年至一九一五年
一九一四年八月
一九一五年五月
一九一五年七月
一九一五年九月
第六章一九二八年
一九二八年十一月
尾声一九八九年，阿德莱德
作者的话
《牛津英语词典》时间轴
小说中提到的重要历史事件时间轴

FAQ

Is this book a real dictionary, or a fictional novel?

It is a fictional novel. Its core idea is an imagined book called The Dictionary of Lost Words, which collects words not formally included, usually related to women's lives and emotions. The novel unfolds around the creation and transmission of this dictionary and its connection to the lives of four generations of women.

What is the background of the author, Pip Williams? What makes this novel special?

Pip Williams is a British author. The Dictionary of Lost Words is her representative work, partly inspired by true historical anecdotes from the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary. What makes it special is that she blends the rigorous pleasures of linguistic scholarship into a warm and resilient epic of a female family, reconstructing from a unique perspective a world of women's contributions and emotions overlooked by mainstream historical narrative.

Is the historical background heavy? Will reading it feel very oppressive?

The novel is set during and after the First World War, so it inevitably touches on the trauma and loss of the era. But the author's tone does not wallow in oppression; rather, it emphasizes women's creativity, mutual aid, and resilience in adversity. The book is filled with warm humanistic concern and a celebration of vitality, bringing more emotion and reflection than pure oppression.

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About the author

皮普·威廉姆斯 Author

Pip Williams is a foreign author about whom little public information is currently available; her nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly documented. The database holds one work by her, The Dictionary of Lost Words, classified under foreign literature. Judging from this representative work, Williams tends to build her narratives around dictionaries, words, and language, interweaving the history behind words with human fates, which gives her writing a strong intellectual and documentary flavor. The book does not stop at linguistic research but uses the inclusion and loss of words to reflect individuals' circumstances and emotions within their times, combining scholarly rigor with literary readability. Although verifiable information remains limited, this single work already reveals the author's sensitivity to linguistic detail and her command of narrative pace, and her future writing deserves continued attention.

闻若婷 Author

Wen Ruoting is a freelance translator and proofreader who graduated from the Department of Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University and previously worked as an editor at a publishing house. She specializes in translating novels of various genres. Public information about her is limited, and her English name, nationality, and dates of birth and death are not known. Four related works are included in the collection, namely The Dictionary of Lost Words, Trap, Swindle, and the three-volume Steve Cavanagh courtroom thriller series by a Gold Dagger Award winner. Her translations include The Confession, The Song of the Innkeeper, Once Upon a Time by the River, The Dictionary of Lost Words, and the Steve Cavanagh courtroom thriller series. Her work spans foreign literature and suspense and mystery fiction, covering both literary texts with delicate language and emotion and tightly paced, intricately plotted courtroom thrillers, serving as a bridge for Chinese-language readers of foreign works.