The Dictionary of Lost Words

Blurb:

In 1901, the word ‘Bondmaid’ was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it.

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. 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. Esme rescues the slip and stashes it in an old wooden case that belongs to her friend, Lizzie, a young servant in the big house. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men. They help her make sense of the world.

Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings relating to women’s experiences often go unrecorded. While she dedicates her life to the Oxford English Dictionary, secretly, she begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.

Set when the women’s suffrage movement was at its height and the Great War loomed, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. It’s a delightful, lyrical and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words, and the power of language to shape the world and our experience of it.

Thoughts:

The book - The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams – took longer than I expected. I was quite excited when I first saw the title and read the blurb. A novel about words, their etymology, dictionaries, scholars, researchers, lexicographers, libraries… It seemed like a treat.

Esme Nicoll, the main protagonist, is introduced at a very young age and then grows into a woman in her thirties quite slowly. She grows up in her father's workplace and falls in love with words. Her relationship with him is wonderful—the instance where she has her first periods is endearing. Their mutual love for language strengthens their bond.

As time passes, the story naturally becomes more about Esme's personal issues. Her pregnancy, and her responses to various issues, such as the women's suffrage movement and the casualties of England at war, gain prominence.

Esme seemed passive and bewildered by it all. Her passion for words also seemed dull after a while. For example, Esme collects words used by the underprivileged, which are excluded from the Dictionary. However, her collection of words goes into a trunk under Lizzie's bed.

Later the man in her life publishes a single copy of it and gifts it to her. Similarly, although she understands why women's rights are important, she never does anything about it.

The other characters were brilliant and memorable. I would have liked to hear more about Edith Thompson, who acts like Esme's self-appointed aunt. She is an expert historian and researcher. She has a circle of scholar friends who visit her house regularly for afternoon tea.

Similarly, the characters of Edith's sister and Lizzie, a lifelong servant at the Murray household, are also quite interesting. Lizzie's mother died when she was eleven. She and her siblings were sent to orphanages. Then she becomes a servant, working more than 16 hours a day, rising earlier than everyone else in the household, and going to bed after them.

Although she has no life of her own or any chance of a husband or family, she wants no part of the suffragist movement and is not convinced that her lot would change. She is simply thankful not to be out on the streets, fending for herself.

The writing is good. The epilogue and the author's note at the end are quite interesting.

Williams has researched the words used by women and the underprivileged, their importance in their lives, and how these were ignored or dismissed by people in charge of creating dictionaries quite well.

To me, this is the most interesting aspect of the story. However, it is often swept aside in favour of other plot threads. My enthusiasm started draining away when that happened.

To summarize—a good book that missed being great by a hair.

Hell in High Heels

Blurb:

Addressing women in history with a unique perspective and a bit of flair!

History textbooks haven’t changed in at least thirty years. Imagine the author's disappointment when she realized her children were learning the same misinformation she did in K-12. Where the fuck were the women who refused to conform? Who refused to live under a man’s boot? The villains? The criminals? Did they not exist?

A handful of badass women are mentioned, usually in passing, in mainstream history books as a sort of appeasement for the feminist crowd—Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Cleopatra, Catherine the Great, et cetera, et cetera—but the author, a feminist, was not appeased. Or amused.

You won’t recognize many of the names here, if any, but there are some familiar names who merit a more honest accounting than they’ve been given. These are women who broke the law; who committed murder; who stole; who got a bad rap; who defied convention; who were so fucking fierce in their own time that contemporary historians exaggerated their villainy.

You ought to meet these badass—and sometimes really fucking scary—bitches. Some will make you cheer; some will make you laugh; and some will make you say, “Holy fuck! I hope that bitch is burning in Hell!"

Thoughts:

The book's title and its sardonic disclaimer at the beginning caught my interest. I started off by laughing at most things C.H. Burford had written because I thought it was quite a refreshing take on historical infamous figures.

I quite liked the gritty, sarcastic, edgy treatment Burford has given them. She seems to have worked hard in terms of the sheer volume of in-depth research that has gone into the book.

I believe that women, whether their contributions are positive or negative, are an integral part of history. They should not be confined to just bare mentions or be portrayed as sidekicks or supporting actors. They also need not be painted as virtuous or villainous to suit the so-called normal/moral standards of society.

However, my enthusiasm started waning as I reached about a quarter of the book. Repetitive swear words, asides, and descriptions made the writing predictable.

Profanity: I don't use swear words but I am no prude. I am interested in etymology, and I respect all words because all of them were coined for some purpose and used so. I found the use of most swear words in the book purposeless.

Characters: In all anthologies, I look for the basic theme. Burford says: "So here I´ve gathered for you a collection of women who most of the world don't know existed. (...) These are women who broke the law, who committed murder, who stole, who got a bad rap, who defied convention, who were so fucking fierce in their own time that contemporary historians exaggerated their villainy. I think you ought to meet these badass - and sometimes really fucking scary – bitches."

Again, I am all for highlighting the feats of strong, fierce women but after a while, I started wondering whether she wanted to show that women can be as cruel/violent/terrifying as men or more so!

Asides and strange descriptions: I could overlook even the swear words but the asides - the frequent explanations or descriptions in parentheses - were unbearable. Were they meant to be funny, snarky, or cheeky? They were so irritating!

To sum up, this book is a missed opportunity. Had Burford excluded the profanity and the asides, it could have been an excellent reference book.

Note:

BookSirens provided me with an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler

Blurb:

The astonishing true journey of Trudi Kanter, an Austrian Jew, whose courage, resourcefulness, and perseverance kept both her and her beloved safe during the Nazi invasion is a rediscovered masterpiece.

In London, in 1984, Trudi Kanter's remarkable memoir was published by N. Spearman. Largely unread, it went out of print until it was re-discovered by a British editor in 2011 and now, for the first time, it is available to readers everywhere.

In 1938, Trudi Miller, stunningly beautiful, chic, and charismatic, was a hat designer for the best-dressed women in Vienna. She frequented cafes. She had suitors. She flew to Paris to see the latest fashions. And she fell deeply in love with Walter Ehrlich, a charming and romantic businessman. But as Hitler’s tanks roll into Austria, the world this young Jewish couple knows and loves collapses leaving them desperate to find a way to survive.

Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler is an enchanting true story that moves from Vienna to Prague to blitzed London, as Trudi seeks safety for her and Walter amid the horror engulfing Europe. In prose that cuts straight to the bone, Trudi Kanter has shared her indelible story. Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler is destined to become a World War II classic.

Thoughts:

When I first heard the title, I expected it to be a story of some girls wearing hats (a special uniform?) fighting Hitler in some way or using hats to do so. It turned out to be that of a resourceful woman milliner escaping the 1938 Nazi invasion of Austria.

The book is not as heart-wrenching and sad as many of those written by Jews who escaped persecution. As Kanter describes mundane things that belonged to Vienna of that era, there is a sense of loss and helplessness.

However, she does not dwell on it because she has things to do, some of which are rescuing herself, her husband, and her parents and surviving in a heavily bombarded England. She goes on to explain breezily how she did them.

Kanter describes people, fashion, food, culture, and architecture quite vividly. She discusses hope, yearning, and despair too. Sometimes her descriptions are more that of an observer’s than of someone who experienced these things.

You encounter so many interesting characters in this book. However, Kanter focuses on how they were helpful to her. Although this makes her seem shallow, it may be her way of showing appreciation. Whatever you may think of it, you cannot deny that this story, though different and unique, is also a great example of what Jews had to endure during WWII and how many of them managed to survive.

The Viscount’s Christmas Temptation

Summary: Lady Amelia Pembroke has been managing her household ever since her father died and her younger brother became the duke. She is well-prepared and manages all problems with consummate ease.

Amelia is 30 years old and is worried that her brother depends too much on her and is putting off seeking a bride. So she intends to find a husband and leave him. She thinks the seventy-fifth Annual Sheffield Christmas Eve Ball is the perfect occasion to find a husband who matches all her selection criteria.

When she learns that the venue for the ball is burned down and that the ball has been cancelled, she goes to Viscount Benedict Sheffield’s house, introduces herself, and offers to arrange the ball.

Benedict lives by the clock: eight in the morning to eight at night is his time for duty and eight in the night to eight in the morning is his time for debauchery.He is intrigued by Amelia.

This book by Erica Ridley is about how Amelia and Benedict manage each other and also manage to fall in love with each other.

My thoughts: Although this book is meant for Christmas, it is not just a holiday read. It has a light-hearted story, with interesting characters and funny, charming banter.

It is a novella; so the happy and predictable ending seemed rushed.  There are no miscommunications or villainous characters. Needless to say, there is no unnecessary drama.

Amelia and Benedict are mischievous, quirky and strong characters. Similarly, Amelia’s long-suffering brother is also a great character. Their interaction is wonderful.

I laughed while reading this book. It reminded me of Georgette Heyer, whose books I love.

Note: The publishers, Intrepid Reads, gave this book to me in exchange for an honest review. I thank them for that.

The Other Girl

I’ve never read any of Pam Jenoff’s books before. So ‘The Other Girl’ came as a pleasant surprise.

It is about an incident in Maria’s life. She is a young, newly pregnant woman living in rural Poland during WWII. She is estranged from her parents and is living with her in-laws after her husband is sent to the front.

One day, Maria discovers a girl hiding in the barn. The girl, Hannah, is fleeing the German police who are taking Jews like her to special camps. Maria helps the child. In the process, she finds out her own family’s secrets.

This is apparently a companion piece to the novel, ‘The Winter Guest’. It is too short but since this is just an incident in Maria’s life,  I can’t complain. It is open-ended, which I usually dislike. However, my imagination is fertile enough to conjure up a happy ending for Hannah.

I liked the novella. I plan to read more of Pam Jenoff’s books.

Note: I received this book from Harlequin in exchange for an honest review. I thank them for that.