Back The Dictionary of Lost Words
Chapters (42)
  1. Map
  2. Prologue | February 1886
  3. PART 1 | 1887–1896
  4. May 1887
  5. April 1888
  6. April 1891
  7. August 1893
  8. September 1896
  9. PART 2 | 1897–1901
  10. August 1897
  11. April 1898
  12. September 1898
  13. August 1901
  14. PART 3 | 1902–1907
  15. May 1902
  16. May 1906
  17. June 1906
  18. December 1906
  19. March 1907
  20. PART 4 | 1907–1913
  21. September 1907
  22. November 1907
  23. November 1908
  24. May 1909
  25. December 1912
  26. January 1913
  27. May 1913
  28. PART 5 | 1914–1915
  29. August 1914
  30. May 1915
  31. July 1915
  32. September 1915
  33. PART 6 | 1928
  34. November 1928
  35. Epilogue | Adelaide, 1989
  36. Author’s Note
  37. Dedication
  38. Acknowledgements
  39. Timeline of the Oxford English Dictionary
  40. Timeline of Major Historical Events Featured in the Novel
  41. About the Author
  42. What’s next onyour reading list?

“I want things to stay as they are. I want to keep sorting words and understanding what they mean. I want to get better at it and be given more responsibility, and I want to keep earning my own money. I feel as though I’ve only begun to understand who I am. Being a wife or a mother just doesn’t fit.” It all came out in a rush and ended in sobbing.

By the time the sobbing stopped I knew what I had to do. I asked Lizzie to find some notepaper and a pen. I would write to Ditte.