The Dictionary of Lost Words

Lizzie and Esme return home, where Esme becomes uncomfortably aware of their different social positions due to Lizzie’s resumed role as a domestic worker.

Three new men have arrived at the Scriptorium, including Mr. Dankworth, who imposingly examines and corrects Esme’s work. Mr. Dankworth pushes into Esme’s space and makes her feel small and insignificant. Harry encourages Esme towards marriage with one of the other new editors, but Esme declines. They discuss what makes a good family or marriage. After some consideration, Harry tells her a good family is based on love, while Esme considers the various meanings of the word “Mother.”

Esme assists Lizzie in writing to Mrs. Lloyd. She also complains about Mr. Dankworth’s sexism. Esme and Lizzie return to the market to visit Mabel, who turns out to be very ill. Mabel teaches Esme the word “Morbs,” slang that comes from the word “morbid” and describes a bad feeling, and gives her a carving as a gift. Esme considers the different ways women will be affected by the vote: While it will change things for the educated, women like Lizzie will barely notice the difference. The next weekend when Esme and Lizzie go to the market, Mabel is not there: A neighboring vendor found her dead behind her stall.

Esme feels guilty that the words she collected from the market and from everyday women sit hidden in her treasure box. She fears they will be forgotten instead of going into the Dictionary where they can be seen. At the Scriptorium, Esme sees Mr. Dankworth make surreptitious edits to the other editors’ work.

Mr. Dankworth moves to a new desk away from Esme’s, and Esme is grateful for the breathing room. Thinking about words declared to be obscene and excluded from the Dictionary—typically words to do with women’s bodies—she opens her treasure box and decides to put together a volume of women’s words, ones that didn’t make it into Dr. Murray’s Dictionary, so that they can be shared and valued. Lizzie is cautious about including words that inappropriate or impolite, even though they agree that Dr. Murray’s system is flawed.

Esme comes across an article about suffragette arrests and force-feeding after a hunger strike. She wonders why in the press, women are always represented by their relationship to men. Ditte writes that Esme’s daughter, named Megan, is alive and well. Later, Esme visits Gareth at the Press. He teaches her about his job composing type out of metal stamps. She sees the phrase “Scold’s Bridle,” an instrument of public torture and humiliation for women accused of being gossips, and compares its use to the starvation and force-feeding the suffragettes endure. She gathers several of the metal letters and puts them in her pocket.

Esme’s women’s dictionary grows with stray words that the Oxford English Dictionary has rejected. She adds a new slip to the collection she keeps in her desk, catching Mr. Dankworth’s attention. For a moment Esme imagines he may be sympathetic to her cause, but he dismisses her work as unimportant and trivial. She drops the slips in nervousness. When Gareth helps her gather them, Esme explains why she wants to give the excluded words a home. Gareth comes to the Scriptorium more and more often. One of the next times he comes, he brings her a slip with a word from his mother: “Cabbage,” used as an endearment.

On her way to the Bodleian Library, Esme is caught up in a suffragette protest that turns violent. A man attacks her, but she is rescued by Gareth and Tilda, who has returned to Oxford. Tilda invites Gareth and Esme to meet her later, so Esme takes Gareth to the Murrays’, where Lizzie helps patch him up. As they discuss the actions of the suffrage movement, Esme considers the meaning of the word “Sisterhood.” Later, Esme and Gareth meet Tilda and two suffragette friends, each from a different social class. Esme challenges their perceptions of the women’s vote. Tilda is in Oxford to support the WSPU. Bill is now married and a father.

Mr. Dankworth leaves the Scriptorium, Esme gets a raise, and Gareth receives a promotion to manager of the Press.

One night, Tilda appears at Esme’s home with a burnt hand and asks Esme and Gareth for help. Esme feels Tilda’s actions are too rash and will only hindering their cause, while Tilda feels that explosive actions cannot be ignored. Tilda takes a train to London, and a fire is featured in the newspaper the next day.

Harry dies of a stroke, and Esme is overcome with grief. She stays with Lizzie, and Ditte arrives to keep her company. Esme, Ditte, and Gareth walk to Harry’s favorite places, including a bridge where he often came with Esme’s mother. They discover flowers Harry left there for Lily—something he had done continuously since her death.