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The Dictionary of Lost Words

Canberra

About The Dictionary of Lost Words

In 1901, the word bondmaid was discovered to be missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. The Dictionary of Lost Words is the story of the girl who stole it. South Australian novelist Pip Williams’ internationally best-selling book, comes to vivid life in this critically acclaimed stage adaptation by South Australian playwright, Verity Laughton. Motherless and ever curious, Esme spends her childhood in the Scriptorium – the “Scrippy”, a converted garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of lexicographers guided by Dr James Murray are gathering words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. She hides beneath the sorting table and catches a word on a “slip” as it falls and soon, she finds other words that have been neglected by the men. Here begins Esme’s collection of her ...