| ISBN |
9780593346082 |
| Name |
Williams, Eley author. |
| Title |
The liar's dictionary : a novel / Eley Williams. |
| Edition |
Large print edition. |
| Published |
New York : Random House Large Print, [2020] |
| ©2020 |
| Description |
364 pages (large print) ; 21 cm. |
| Summary |
Mountweazel (n.), the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement. Peter Winceworth is a lexicographer in Victorian-era London, toiling away at the letter 'S' for a multi-volume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Secretly, he begins to insert unauthorized fictitious entries into the dictionary in an attempt to assert some artistic freedom. In the present day, Mallory is a young intern employed by the same publisher. Her task is to uncover these mountweazels before the dictionary is digitized. She also has to contend with threatening phone calls from an anonymous caller. Why, she wonders, is the change in the definition of 'marriage' so upsetting to the caller? And does the caller really intend for the publisher's staff to 'burn in hell'? As these two narratives, characters and times entwine, both Winceworth and Mallory discover how they might negotiate the complexities of the nonsensical, relentless, untrustworthy, hoax-strewn and undefinable path we call life. An exhilarating debut from a formidably brilliant young writer, The Liar's Dictionary celebrates the rigidity, fragility, absurdity and joy of language. |
| Subjects |
Truthfulness and falsehood -- Fiction |
| Threats of violence -- Fiction |
| Lexicographers -- Fiction |
| English language -- Etymology -- Fiction |
| Encyclopedias and dictionaries -- Fiction |
| Coming out (Sexual orientation) -- Fiction |
| Unrequited love -- Fiction |
| Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.) -- Fiction |
| Genre |
Humorous fiction |
| Historical fiction |
| Large type books |
| Links to Related Works |
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