This is a delightful read about a young woman who grows up and devotes much of her life to compiling the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary – an undertaking which began in 1879 and was completed in 1989. Esme;s father was a lexicographer working in the dictionary, and as Esme’s mother died when she was so young, she divides her earliest years in the kitchen of the household of chief editor James Murray (where she makes a lifelong friend in servant Lizzie Lester) and under the table in the grandly named ‘Scriptorium’ amongst the many words beign considered for inclusion. It is home to her and becomes a key part of her future.
It kindles her fascination with words, starting when she picks up her first slip discarded by an editor – “bondmaid”. Fascinated and eventually focussing on on words about women as she grows up, Esme herself continues to collect words into her adulthood, where she too works at the Scriptorium. She even goes with Lizzie to the markets to expose herself to and collect the kinds of words that would never be included – common bawdy words and slang.
The quest for self-determination is a key concern for all women in the text, as all this takes place amidst the rise of the suffragettes, and Esme must decide if she will take direct and confronting action like her friend and actress Tilda, or focus more on the gentler path of drawing attention to women’s words. The choices she makes here frame the pathway of the rest of her life.
It’s a hard life, but one of beauty and purpose, and I loved reading every minute of this lovely book about women and words.
Welloflostplots 