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Witherspoon’s latest literary selection is The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. Set in the early 19th century as the suffrage movement is well underway and the Great War looms, a young girl named Esme hides under tables and away from prying eyes while her father and his cohorts collect words for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary at the revered university. But Esme, whose mother died when she was a baby, begins to notice something about the words going uncollected.
After finding the word “bondmaid,” meaning slave girl, discarded, Esme begins to collect even more words that have been neglected by her father and the men selecting the words for inclusion in their dictionary. As she grows up, Esme decides to set off on her own, leaving the sheltered world of the university where she grew up behind. What she encounters are the people and words she will add to her very own dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.
Before you go, click here to see 10 of Reese Witherspoon’s best book club picks.
