Tag: Oxford setting

Pip Williams’ The Bookbinder

In London during the WW1, Peg and her identical twin sister, Maude, fold and gather the pages of books in the Oxford printing house along with other women. The men, in a different section, edit and design the covers. Peg wants nothing more than to read the books but her job doesn’t allow her. She eagerly takes home faulty books. While her sister is content at her mundane job, Peg dreams of attending Oxford Somerville College across from the printing house, but what are the chances for a bookbinder? When refugees arrive after the German invasion of Belgium, a few of the Flemish women join the printing house. Lotte immediately draws close to Maude although Peg was assigned to assist her with the folding process. With the war going on and men leaving their jobs to join up, is there hope for Peg to work at something more challenging than her present job? When she volunteers to read and write for wounded soldiers, she meets Gwen, a privileged woman full of confidence and slowly doors open.

Pip Williams’—The dictionary of lost words *****

Motherless Esme hides under a desk in the Scriptorium where her father works surrounded by words. He is one of the lexicographers working on words to include in the first Oxford English Dictionary. When careless lexicographers drop chits, Esme collects the words and their meanings written on pieces of paper and hides them in a trunk. As the years pass, she comes to realize that many words are excluded because the lexicographers believe words for the dictionary should have written examples. So begins Esme’s personal research, collecting excluded words—words of profanity, words commonly used only by women but not men—words she hears in the markets. But what will she do with her collection and how will her life change once she begins working in the Scriptorium? A fascinating tale inspired by the lexicographers who actually worked on producing the first English dictionary back in the late 1800s.

Connie Willis’ — Blackout and All Clear*****

Blackout is about characters who travel back in time to view different historical events during World War II, but after they arrive, there’s a mess up in the time travel lab, and they find themselves stuck in Oxford, England. Continue reading “Connie Willis’ — Blackout and All Clear*****” →