The Liar's Dictionary
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The Liar's Dictionary
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Narrated by:
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Kristin Atherton
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Jon Glover
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By:
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Eley Williams
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
mountweazel, noun: a fake entry deliberately inserted into a dictionary or work of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement.
In the final year of the 19th century, Peter Winceworth has reached the letter S, toiling away for the much-anticipated and multi-volume Swansby’s New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Overwhelmed at his desk and increasingly uneasy that his colleagues are attempting to corral language and regiment facts, Winceworth feels compelled to assert some sense of individual purpose and exercise artistic freedom, so he begins inserting unauthorised, fictitious entries into the dictionary.
In the present day, young intern Mallory is tasked with uncovering these mountweazels as the text of the dictionary is digitised for modern consumers. Through the words and their definitions she finds she has access to their creator’s motivations, hopes and desires. More pressingly, she must also field daily threatening anonymous phone calls. Is a suggested change to the dictionary’s definition of marriage (n.) really that controversial? What power does Mallory have when it comes to words and knowing how to tell the truth? And does the caller really intend for the Swansby’s staff to ‘burn in hell’?
As their two narratives combine, Winceworth and Mallory must discover how to negotiate the complexities of an often nonsensical, untrustworthy, hoax-strewn and undefinable life.
The Liar’s Dictionary explores themes of trust and creativity, naming the unnameable and it celebrates the rigidity, fragility and absurdity of language. It is an exhilarating debut novel from a formidably brilliant young writer.
©2020 Eley Williams (P)2020 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"This tale of lexical intrigues is an absolute joy to [listen to]! It’s gloriously inventive and playful, but with just the right amount of heart." (Lucy Scholes)
What listeners say about The Liar's Dictionary
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jeff
- 21-03-21
2 parallel stories set around a dictionary
The first story is set in Victorian times when lexicographers were setting up the dictionary, story 2 in modern era during its decline. An odd charming book, with the 2 stories linked across time by words and their meanings.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Haroon Hamid
- 03-06-21
Get your dictionary out!
Full of obscure and new words... You will need your dictionary to make the most of this book! A wonderful little story of two timeliness that interweave. Wonderfully narrated as you are taken into the world of dictionary formation and will have you questioning the process of defining words!
Wonderfully funny and captivating!
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- JoLindsey
- 26-07-22
What a load of Codswallop
I do like words and was looking forward to this book, a recommendation to our book club. My goodness! I've not read such a load of tripe in a long time. To top it all, the person who recommended it missed our bookclub meeting when it got a unanimous thumbs down by all the members.
The story was wishy-washy at best, and conspicuous by its absence mostly! The dictionary quotes had no relevance or tie-in to the 'story'.
Either my whole book club missed the point as it was so cleverly written, or the author missed a trick here to write a really strong story, and tie it into dictionary quotes. But sadly, for us both were very wide of the mark.
I'd give it a wide birth, life is too short. Stick to reading the actual dictionary!
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