The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Liar's Dictionary
Author: Eley Williams
Release Date: 1.5.21
Publisher: Doubleday


Publisher's Summary
An exhilarating and laugh-out-loud debut novel from a prize-winning new talent which chronicles the misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman put on his trail a century later to root out his misdeeds while confronting questions of her own sexuality and place in the world.

Mountweazel n. the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement.

Peter Winceworth, Victorian lexicographer, is toiling away at the letter S for Swansby's multivolume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. His disaffection compels him to insert unauthorized fictitious entries into the dictionary in an attempt to assert some sense of individual purpose and artistic freedom.

In the present day, Mallory, a young intern employed by the publisher, is tasked with uncovering these mountweazels before the work is digitized. She also has to contend with threatening phone calls from an anonymous caller. Is the change in the definition of marriage really that upsetting? And does the caller really intend for the Swansby's staff to 'burn in hell'?

As these two narratives combine, both Winceworth and Mallory discover how they might negotiate the complexities of the often nonsensical, relentless, untrustworthy, hoax-strewn, and undefinable path we call life. An exhilarating debut novel from a formidably brilliant young writer, The Liar's Dictionary celebrates the rigidity, fragility, absurdity, and joy of language.

My Review

Sometime the backstories to how I acquire and read a book are detailed and complex--this was one of those times. As a "word nerd" I was instantly intrigued when this title first came across my radar on Edelweiss at the beginning of 2020 and it became quite the challenge to get an ARC. This novel was to initially be released in the spring of 2020 but the release date continued to be pushed back due to COVID.  It was also being released in UK prior to US so I kinda chalked it up to "probably not going to get a copy." I saw it on Netgalley and tried to read an eARC there but the formatting was problematic (so confusing and I couldn't figure out the trajectory). By the time I did get a copy I was in the midst of my "I suddenly hate reading" phase of the pandemic that spread from December 2020 to about mid-February 2021. When I finally did dive into the story I read it in a single day. 

Composed of 26 chapters, each titled with an entry to match the progression of the alphabet [A is for artful (adj.), B is for bluff (v.), etc.] The Liar's Dictionary was absolutely jam packed with lexicographical details, linguistic analyses, and etymologies (both real and imagined.) The two timelines were each wonderfully unique and full of intellectual humor--as well as humorous situations. For example, after a night out, one of the protagonists arrives at his speech therapist's office with birthday cake in his pocket. This book was a joy for me to read but definitely not something that general fiction readers will probably be drawn to. I would recommend this more specifically to my fellow "word nerds" and readers of Oscar Wilde.