Legal Research

Eley Williams ? The Liars Dictionary

By Scott

I have soft spot both for books about books and, books where two interlinked stories play out across time, so Eley Williams' debut novel immediately appealed to me. Alternating between the worlds of Peter Winceworth in the late 1800's  and Mallory in the present day England the book is about dictionary words. The connecting tissue is the Swansby?s New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. 

Winceworth is there at the start: he is researching entries for the letter ?S? of the planned dictionary. He is unfulfilled with his life and increasingly frustrated and annoyed by his co-workers, in particular Frasham who has returned from a recent trip with a new bride Sophia. In need of a release he decides to start adding multiple fictitious entries [ agrupt (n. and adj.), irritation caused by having the denouement ruined] into the dictionary.

In the present day, we discover the dictionary is most famous for never having been completed. The current surviving owner is planning to digitise the text to save it for posterity. However, before he does he want to track down and expunge any mountweazels (made up words), and young intern Mallory, as sole employee,  is tasked with uncovering them. That would be fine, but the daily threatening anonymous phone calls, are not. 

This is a joyous debut full of wit and fun, as well as some new words to use next time I'm playing Scrabble. Indeed I read it in two days and right up until the final two chapters of Malloy's tale I was in love with this book. But then: the resolution of the Mallory side of things let things down. It just seemed a bit naff. Which is a shame. I suspect most people won't be as bothered as me, and that's fine. Most importantly though is that up to that point it was great. I like how each chapter is a letter of the alphabet : B is for bluff (v.),  S is for sham (n. and adj.) etc and how changing language and definition is woven into the fabric of the tale, and how playful it all is, for example when Malloy says to her girlfriend Pip "I wish I had an easy way to remember how to spell mnemonic" . 

Immediately added to the 'books to gift people' list.

Thank you Random House UK and Netgalley for the ARC.

The post Eley Williams – The Liars Dictionary appeared first on Information Overlord.

Full post as published by Information Overload on July 02, 2020 (boomark / email).