I loved the premise before I even opened the book, and
then I loved the book.
Williams provides vivid characterization in her narrator
Esme, the daughter of one of the creators of the Oxford English Dictionary. As
a child hiding under the word-sorting table, Esme realizes that some words
aren’t deemed appropriate for the OED, particularly words related to or used by
women.
As she grows up amongst the dictionary’s men, she is also drawn to the
women around her, many of them from the working classes or fringes of society,
who share their words with her; she protects these words fiercely, passing them
on to safekeeping.
Williams did extensive research with the caretakers and
creators of the modern OED, incorporating many historical figures into her
novel. But it is her protagonist Esme who carried me along into women’s hopes
and pains and battles—these voices make the story so relevant.
What a great
read for our times, as more women’s stories are elevated.
'An enchanting story about love, loss and the power of language' Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory
Sometimes you have to start with what's lost to truly find yourself...
Motherless and irrepressibly curious, Esme spends her childhood at her father's feet as he and his team gather words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary.
One day, she sees a slip of paper containing a forgotten word flutter to the floor unclaimed.
And so Esme begins to collect words for another dictionary in secret: The Dictionary of Lost Words. But to do so she must journey into a world…
After
reading The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, I wanted more Rachel
Joyce and more Harold Fry. Next, Joyce’s The Music Shop became one of my
favorite books, and then I was excited to see that a companion to Harold Fry
was out: The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, which allowed me into
the mind of Queenie, the dying woman that Harold treks towards.
Joyce writes
about the ill and infirm with such compassion and grace, and again, I didn’t see
the ending coming. Like with Joyce’s other books, the end of this one left me
in tears.
Queenie and her garden are entrancing and inspiring, with a vivid voice
and setting. And if you still need more of these characters, Joyce has now
written the final book in the trio: Maureen, which follows Harold’s wife
in her own journey seeking solace (and which I consumed shortly after Queenie’s
story.).
When Queenie Hennessy discovers that Harold Fry is walking the length of England to save her, and all she has to do is wait, she is shocked. Her note had explained she was dying. How can she wait? A new volunteer at the hospice suggests that Queenie should write again; only this time she must tell Harold everything. In confessing to secrets she has hidden for twenty years, she will find atonement for the past. As the volunteer points out, 'Even though you've done your travelling, you're starting a new journey too.' Queenie thought her first letter would be the…
Like
many of Lovric’s novels, Venice features prominently in this book, too, when the
seven Harristown sisters, known as the Swiney Godivas, travel there to present
their peculiar stage show showcasing their extraordinarily long hair.
Their
story originates in Ireland and brings them to London as they scramble their
way out of poverty and try to find love. Lovric’s stories always include some
gothic, some grotesque, and some pure and enlivening love.
I was drawn into the
narrator Manticory’s hopes for a better future while also, at times, feeling
squeamish about the more unsavory lengths her sisters go to to find release
from their poverty and, later, their eldest sister’s authoritarian rule.
Venice
provides the backdrop for the dramatic denouement. Gruesome and gripping, but also
beautiful storytelling.
It is the age of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, when Europe burns with a passion for long-flowing locks. And when seven sisters, born into fatherless poverty in Ireland, grow up with hair cascading down their backs, to their ankles, and beyond, men are not slow to recognise their potential.
It begins with a singing and dancing septet, with Irish jigs kicked out in dusty church halls. But it is not the sisters' singing or their dancing that fills the seats: it is the torrents of hair they let loose at the end of each show. And their hair will take dark-hearted…
Skip the crowded tourist ships of Piazza San Marco.
This guide is for lovers, scholars, and adventurers. Whether you do one walking
tour or all seven, you are sure to have a memorable experience steeped in
history and yet uniquely your own.
Learning history has never been so fun or so
seductive. Drink a spritz at a cafe where Casanova spied on his friends. Sneak
down narrow streets to the house where Casanova gambled all night. Kneel in the
church where Casanova passed out while giving a sermon.
Discover the secret
view of the Grand Canal by the palace where Casanova's hairdresser worked.
Create a little of your own history while being seduced by the lover and his
city.
