The Lost Words: Rediscover our natural world with this spellbinding book

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This is a book for children. Which I didn't know at first so I was surprised by the choices of "lost words" used in this book as I didn't think them lost at all. Then I read the book's description and thus found out that the 2007 edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary was missing around forty common words concerning nature. Apparently they were no longer being used enough by children to merit their place in the dictionary. The authors thought this could not be, should not be - and I quite agree. Through the main character, Esme, we follow the day to day work of the lexicographers, spend some interesting time with the Women's Suffrage Movement, and eventually experience the horrors of the first World War. Esme is a fictional character but I am sure she epitomises many women who lived through that time. The book also covers the lot of the poor, women and suffragettes, as well as what it may have been like to grow up motherless in Victorian England; it's nowhere near as stuffy as it might sound to some and proved to be a really immersive experience. One of those books, that might not be the greatest but I whole heartedly feel every booknerd MUST read! 8 out of 12. overall, not a bad book by any means; i just found my personal interest slowly declining throughout. although, the epilogue and the authors note at the end are exceptionally interesting and did help me appreciate the story more. First there was the finding that British primary school children were more at ease naming their favourite Pokémon character than they were at naming a hare, a deer or an oak tree.

So begins the Dictionary of Lost Words as Esme gathers words and definitions from the local market and some of the interesting characters there. A frequent contributor is also Lizzie, the maid to the main editor of the dictionary. Lizzie and Esme have an interesting relationship. I also enjoyed the character of Ditte who serves as Esme’s mother figure. There are side stories with the start of the suffrage movement in England and the buildup to World War I. I also enjoyed Esme’s romance with Gareth. The fictional part of this story concerns, Esme, whose father is widowed at Esme's birth. Esme's father is a member of Murphy's team and he brings Esme to work with him each day. As a youngster, Esme spends time under the big table of the workers and often gathers discarded word slips and hides them away in a chest in the room of house servant Lizzie. Lizzie, although just eight years older than Esme, is a combination of mother, companion, and maid to Esme, especially once Esme is banished from the Scriptorium for interfering with the work there. a b " 'The Dictionary of Lost Words' to be adapted for TV". Books+Publishing. 10 November 2022 . Retrieved 14 November 2022. Me needlework will always be here,” she said. “I see this and I feel…well, I don’t know the word. Like I’ll always be here.”Our first party, fictional, narrator is Emse Nicoll whose widowed father Harry works as a lexicographer in the Scriptorium. We first encounter her as a young child – burning her hands trying to receive a rejected slip which happens to feature her Mother’s name (Lily) from a fire. And this sets something of the pattern for Esme’s young life (and the direction of her later life): as someone who is both seeking a mother figure and who seeks to rescue words, meanings and usages rejected or excluded from, or simply not even considered worth for, the dictionary NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2021 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 24 March 2021 . Retrieved 25 March 2021. At six years old Esme becomes enthralled with the words she finds on the slips of paper, as she sits under the work table in the Scriptorium where her father works on the Oxford English Dictionary. Later working there herself, she finds words of common usage mostly by women, words that would never make it into the dictionary from places, other than under that table. The beauty of these words Esme discovers, even those considered vulgar, is that the usage of them is real and linked to their life experiences and for Esme that is enough to confirm their importance and merit and should be preserved . Some of these words are based on her own experiences as well, both the sad, heartbreaking moments and the joyful ones. Esme simply felt very much like a vehicle for the author — especially knowing the main drive that compelled Williams to write a fictional account of the but where are the women idea. From the Author's Note:

Fundraising campaigns resulted in the book being donated to all schools in Scotland and Greater London, and 21 English and 3 Welsh counties. After reading, based on the recommendation from a good friend, Simon Winchester's The Surgeon of Crowthorne: a tale of murder, madness & the love of words (published in the US as The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary), Williams was left with the distinct impression that "the Dictionary was a particularly male endeavor" — as she writes in the Author's Note at the end. She soon "gleans ... all the editors were men ... most of the literature, manuals, and newspaper articles used as evidence for how words were used, were written by men." And thus began her foundation and the desire to create something of her own here:

The Lost Words

I still remember when I saw my first kingfisher, that heart stopping, breath taking moment of magic. Listening to Robert MacFarlane read his spell of a kingfisher in the offices of Hamish Hamilton gave me that same sense of wonder. What an utter delight it has been to work with his words. All over the country, there are words disappearing from children's lives. These are the words of the natural world; Dandelion, Otter, Bramble and Acorn, all gone. A wild landscape of imagination and play is rapidly fading from our children's minds. Smith, Matthew (19 September 2023). "Australian actor Tilda Cobham-Hervey to star lead role in The Dictionary Of Lost Words". ABC News (Australia) . Retrieved 19 September 2023.

From Acorn to Weasel: a gorgeous, hand-illustrated, large-format spellbook celebrating the magic and wonder of the natural world Another fundraising campaign led to the book being placed in every one of the 220 hospices in Britain to supported the health and wellbeing of adults.Where, I wondered, are the women in this story, and does it matter that they are absent? —It took me a while to find the women, and when I did, they were cast in minor and supporting roles."

I highly recommend it to historical fiction and based on real characters fiction fans. It’s quite informative, intense, realistic novel to read and absorb slowly. It was announced in November 2022 that a collaboration between filmmakers Lisa Scott of Highview Productions and Rebecca Summerton of Closer Productions (who in 2019 collaborated on The Hunting) had bought the rights to adapt the book for a television series. [8] [12] Williams is co- executive producer, along with Alex Dimos and Andrew Nunn, while Anton Andreacchio is producer of the series. [13] The second is an encounter with a group of actors – including a suffragette Tilda (and her brother who gives Emse her first relationship). This opens Emse’s eyes to the fight for women’s rights and also brings in the different tactics used in the fight for voting rights (as well as what universal suffrage means – Esme only two conscious that even the most militant suffragettes are happy with votes for female property owners.

Something I wish people who fuss over neologisms and redefinitions would process. Things are growing or dying. There is no stasis in natural systems, and no homeostasis doesn't count...it is a finely balanced state but predicated on constant shifts and changes that must support a larger whole's proper, healthy functioning. Just like language...the words are always tip-tilting, reconfiguring themselves, shedding pieces and adding others; but the language as a whole lives and thrives and, broadly, remains the same. Only different. The Dictionary of Words starts off incredibly strong: We find a little girl, Esme, under a table in Oxford. Her father is working on putting together the dictionary. Under the sorting table, a word flutters to the floor. Esme rescues the word and starts to compile a collection of words that didn’t make it into the dictionary. What we might call the ‘nature of childhood’ has changed dramatically in Britain over recent decades,” says Macfarlane, a Reader in Environmental Humanities in Cambridge University's Faculty of English.