The Dictionary of Lost Words

 I think that Pip Williams' novel The Dictionary of Lost Words (#1,025) about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) could have done with some judicious pruning.  Quite a lot of pruning, actually.  Her premise is that the words of women and the common folk were largely ignored when compiling this massive work.  Fair point, since it was guided by a group of white, well-educated academics, headed by James Murray.

Williams' protagonist here is Esme Nicols.  She is the daughter of one of Murray's work team in the Scriptorium, a corrugated tin shed in Murray's garden where most of the work was conducted.  Esme is only five when the book begins, but she starts out by not returning a slip with a word destined for the dictionary which has fallen under the table where she sits.  The word written on this putative slip was "bondmaid".  It never did make it into the original published version, and so Esme's career as an untrustworthy adjunct to this historical work begins.  She begins to collect and hoard words from other sources, many vulgar, but all in usage so common that they never achieve the status of academic notice.  

Personally, I did not care for the character of Esme at all.  She was whiny and dependent on others, especially a servant of the Murrays, Lizzie Lester, to prop her up emotionally, and basically wait on her hand and foot.  The only time she seems to take any initiative is when she manages to get herself pregnant.  Of course, she gives up the child which allows her to be angst-full for the rest of this seemingly interminable book.  I can't believe this book was nominated for a Goodreads Best Historical Fiction Book for 2021!

If you want to read a truly interesting book about the OED, I'd recommend the non-fiction The Madman and the Professor by Simon Winchester.  It won't take nearly as long to read, either!