Pip Williams

A young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words. “Williams spins an immersive and compelling tale, sweeping us back to the Oxford she painted so expertly in The Dictionary of Lost Words.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who live on a narrow boat in Oxford and work in the bindery at the university press. Ambitious, intelligent Peggy has been told for most of her life that her job is to bind the books, not read them—but as she folds and gathers pages, her mind wanders to the opposite side of Walton Street, where the female students of Oxford’s Somerville College have a whole library at their fingertips. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has: to spend her days folding the pages of books in the company of the other bindery girls. She is extraordinary but vulnerable, and Peggy feels compelled to watch over her. Then refugees arrive from the war-torn cities of Belgium, sending ripples through the Oxford community and the sisters’ lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can educate herself and use her intellect, not just her hands. But as war and illness reshape her world, her love for a Belgian soldier—and the responsibility that comes with it—threaten to hold her back. The Bookbinder is a story about knowledge—who creates it, who can access it, and what truths get lost in the process. Much as she did in the international bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams thoughtfully explores another rarely seen slice of history through women’s eyes.

Em 1901, descobriu-se que faltava a palavra “escrava” no Dicionário de Inglês Oxford. Esta é a história da menina que a roubou. Esme nasceu num mundo de palavras. Órfã de mãe e irreprimivelmente curiosa, passa a infância no Scriptorium, um barracão de jardim em Oxford onde o pai e um grupo de lexicógrafos dedicados selecionam palavras para o primeiro Dicionário de Inglês. Esme acompanha tudo a partir do seu lugar, debaixo da mesa, sem ser vista nem ouvida. Um dia, um pedaço de papel contendo a palavra “escrava” cai ao chão. Esme apanha-o e esconde-o na velha caixa de madeira da sua amiga, Lizzie, uma jovem criada de servir na casa grande. Esme começa a reunir outras palavras do Scriptorium, palavras descartadas ou negligenciadas pelos homens do dicionário. Palavras que a ajudam a entender o mundo. Com o passar do tempo, Esme percebe que certas palavras são consideradas mais importantes do que outras, e que as que se relacionam com as experiências das mulheres acabam muitas vezes excluídas. Como surgiram os primeiros dicionários? Quem selecionava as palavras? E porque é que algumas palavras eram consideradas mais importantes do que outras? Pip Williams conta-nos esta história numa narrativa envolvente que é também uma maravilhosa história de amor. É com o movimento sufragista feminino no auge e a Grande Guerra a aproximar-se a passos largos que se desenrola a ação de O Dicionário das Palavras Perdidas: uma narrativa escondida nas entrelinhas de uma história escrita por homens. Inspirada em factos reais, Pip Williams mergulhou nos arquivos do Dicionário de Inglês Oxford para contar esta história. O Dicionário das Palavras Perdidas é uma celebração deliciosa, lírica e profundamente instigante das palavras e do poder da linguagem para moldar o mundo.

A young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words. “Williams spins an immersive and compelling tale, sweeping us back to the Oxford she painted so expertly in The Dictionary of Lost Words.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who live on a narrow boat in Oxford and work in the bindery at the university press. Ambitious, intelligent Peggy has been told for most of her life that her job is to bind the books, not read them—but as she folds and gathers pages, her mind wanders to the opposite side of Walton Street, where the female students of Oxford’s Somerville College have a whole library at their fingertips. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has: to spend her days folding the pages of books in the company of the other bindery girls. She is extraordinary but vulnerable, and Peggy feels compelled to watch over her. Then refugees arrive from the war-torn cities of Belgium, sending ripples through the Oxford community and the sisters’ lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can educate herself and use her intellect, not just her hands. But as war and illness reshape her world, her love for a Belgian soldier—and the responsibility that comes with it—threaten to hold her back. The Bookbinder is a story about knowledge—who creates it, who can access it, and what truths get lost in the process. Much as she did in the international bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams thoughtfully explores another rarely seen slice of history through women’s eyes.

Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the "Scriptorium," a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Young Esme's place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word "bondmaid" flutters to the floor. She rescues the slip, and when she learns that the word means slave-girl, she withholds it from the OED and begins to collect words that show women in a more positive light. As she grows up, Esme realizes that words and meanings relating to women's and common folks' experiences often go unrecorded. And so she begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words. To do so she must leave the sheltered world of the university and venture out to meet the people whose words will fill those pages. Set during the height of the women's suffrage movement with the Great War looming, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. Based on actual events and combed from author Pip Williams's experience delving into the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary, this highly original novel is a delightful, lyrical, and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words and the power of language to shape the world.