Rating: 4 out of 5

An interesting story based around the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary. It portrays an era when women served merely as volunteers and occasional assistants but couldn’t progress much further. Men agreed upon the definitions of words based on literature references rather than common usage. This was the time of suffragettes fighting for rights, leading up to and including the First World War when the press and printing rooms lost many men to the battlefield.

We follow Esme, the daughter of one of the lexicographers, as she grows up among words and definitions, as she finds words that have been missed by accident - those that fall onto the floor - and by design, as she meets people from different walks of life.

I loved reading about her childhood, but almost gave up reading about halfway through. I’m glad I persisted, as I found it became more interesting again toward the end.

Originally posted to my Goodreads account