The liar's dictionary : a novel Cover Image

Book

The liar's dictionary : a novel / Eley Williams.

Summary:

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.-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9780385546775
ISBN: 0385546777
ISBN: 9780593311868
ISBN: 0593311868
ISBN: 9781785152047
ISBN: 1785152041
Physical Description: 270 pages ; 22 cm
Publisher: New York : Doubleday, [2020]
Copyright: ©2020

Content descriptions

General Note:

Originally published in hardcover in Great Britain by William Heinemann, an imprint of Cornerstone Publishing, a division of Penguin Random House Ltd., London, in 2020.