As Esme grows up, she learns the Scriptorium is the place with only some of the words, and that many words are rejected and discarded as being unimportant or not fitting enough for publication.  It turns out these are often the words of women, the poor, and the ‘objectionable’.  As she discovers more of these words and realizes they continue to be judged and omitted from the dictionary, she begins to “collect them” and store them away.  A hidden place for hidden words.

Set in the early 1900s in the midst of women’s suffrage and the Great War looming, Esme learns of an entire other world outside of the Scriptorium.  A world where the rejected words that she has carefully collected and stored away are actually used.  Though her life is dedicated to her work for the OED, she decides to spend more time with the people who use these undocumented words and spends years learning and collecting them. From this is where the Dictionary of Lost Words is born. 

This book is both fact and fiction, loosely based on the actual history of the first OED;  masterfully interweaving its complex history with women’s suffrage and events surrounding WWI.  One would think these events alone are enough for the reader, but the Author does an excellent job of also creating Esme’s own story and blending it with historical landmarks in such a way that makes reading this book an actual experience.  You feel as if you know these people, you care about them, you cheer their wins and mourn their losses.

Not only is this a fascinating recap of major historical events in our language and in our world, but it is also a wonderful story about how a bright and inquisitive mind has the capacity to understand a world completely unlike her own; who understands the value all the words bring to our language, even those that are easily judged or make us uncomfortable.

This book was an outstanding read, for lovers of words and language, and for those who just love a really great story.