New Titles

Project Hail Mary : a novel

Weir, Andy.


Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it's up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery--and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he's got to do it all alone. Or does he?
Date Published:2025

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it's up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery--and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he's got to do it all alone. Or does he?

Date Published:2025

The Pumpkin Spice Café

Gilmore, Laurie.


Jeanie takes over the Pumpkin Spice Café in Dream Harbor for a fresh start. Local farmer Logan, who avoids gossip, is annoyed by her upbeat attitude but finds himself drawn to her. Will Jeanie's charm win over the grumpy Logan?
Date Published:2024

The Cinnamon Bun Book Store

Gilmore, Laurie.


Hazel finds secret messages in books at the Cinnamon Bun Book Store and enlists fisherman Noah to help her follow the clues. As they hunt for treasure around Dream Harbor, their chemistry grows, leading to unexpected romance.
Date Published:2024

The Christmas tree farm

Gilmore, Laurie,


Kira North, who dislikes Christmas, buys a Christmas tree farm in a charming town. Bennett Ellis, on vacation from California, meets Kira and initially refuses to help her. Despite her stubbornness, Kira starts to appreciate Ben's help as he assists with the farm's setup.
Date Published:2024

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

Gilmore, Laurie,


Includes a playlist. "Love blossoms in the most unexpected places..." --Cover As a world-renowned chef, single dad Archer never planned on moving to a small town, let alone running a pancake restaurant. But Dream Harbor needs a new chef, and Archer needs a community to help raise his daughter, Olive. Iris has never managed to hold down a job for more than a few months. So when it's suggested that Archer is looking for a live-in nanny, she almost runs in the opposite direction. Now, Iris finds herself in a whole new world. One where her gorgeous new boss lives right across the hall and likes to cook topless... Keeping everything strictly professional should be easy, right?
Date Published:2025

Includes a playlist. "Love blossoms in the most unexpected places..." --Cover As a world-renowned chef, single dad Archer never planned on moving to a small town, let alone running a pancake restaurant. But Dream Harbor needs a new chef, and Archer needs a community to help raise his daughter, Olive. Iris has never managed to hold down a job for more than a few months. So when it's suggested that Archer is looking for a live-in nanny, she almost runs in the opposite direction. Now, Iris finds herself in a whole new world. One where her gorgeous new boss lives right across the hall and likes to cook topless... Keeping everything strictly professional should be easy, right?

Date Published:2025

The Gingerbread Bakery

Gilmore, Laurie,


Includes playlist. "The sweetest things are worth the wait"--Front cover. As owner of her beloved Gingerbread Bakery, Annie Andrews should have a love life to match her business; sugary and sweet. But instead, she's locked in a game of words with the irritatingly upbeat bar owner down the street. Mac Sullivan has everything he wants, except the girl he dreams of. It's easier to argue with Annie than get her to talk to him but with Jeanie and Logan's wedding coming up, they're about to spend a lot more time together. As the snowflakes fall and with romance in the air, will Annie see that the one she loves to hate might just be her perfect match after all?
Date Published:2025

Includes playlist. "The sweetest things are worth the wait"--Front cover. As owner of her beloved Gingerbread Bakery, Annie Andrews should have a love life to match her business; sugary and sweet. But instead, she's locked in a game of words with the irritatingly upbeat bar owner down the street. Mac Sullivan has everything he wants, except the girl he dreams of. It's easier to argue with Annie than get her to talk to him but with Jeanie and Logan's wedding coming up, they're about to spend a lot more time together. As the snowflakes fall and with romance in the air, will Annie see that the one she loves to hate might just be her perfect match after all?

Date Published:2025

All I want is you : a novel

Ballard, Falon,


A holiday rom-com in which two rival authors are trapped in a hotel together when a blizzard strikes their publisher's holiday party.
Date Published:2024

Creating space : my life and work in Indigenous education

Kirkness, Verna J.


Includes index. My family -- My teaching career [Reedy Creek and Bellhampton ; Going to Normal School ; Fisher River ; Birtle Indian Residential School ; Rossville Indian Residential and Day School in Norway House (schools)] -- Beyond teaching [Counselling in Winnipeg ; Supervisor of Schools ; Cross-cultural education consultant] -- Working provincially and nationally [Manitoba Indian Brotherhood ; A year at university (University of Manitoba) ; National Indian Brotherhood ; Travelling to Israel ; Freelance consultant ; "Not a prophet in your own land"] -- The University of British Columbia [Native Indian Teacher Education Program (NITEP) ; Ts' 'Kel is born ; First Nations House of Learning ; Study Tours to Aotearoa (New Zealand, Australian Aborigines, Maori people) ; Feasibility study on an Aboriginal Languages Institute ; The First Nations Longhouse] -- Retirement -- Leaving Vancouver -- Epilogue : Upon reflection. In the 1980s she became an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia, where she was appointed Director of the Native Teacher Education Program, founded the Ts' 'Kel Graduate Program, and was a driving force behind the creation of the First Nations House of Learning. Honoured by community and country, Kirkness is a visionary who has inspired, and been inspired by, generations of students. Like a long conversation between friends, Creating Space reveals the challenges and misgivings, the burning questions, the successes and failures that have shaped the life of this extraordinary woman and the history of Aboriginal education in Canada.
Date Published:2013

Includes index. My family -- My teaching career [Reedy Creek and Bellhampton ; Going to Normal School ; Fisher River ; Birtle Indian Residential School ; Rossville Indian Residential and Day School in Norway House (schools)] -- Beyond teaching [Counselling in Winnipeg ; Supervisor of Schools ; Cross-cultural education consultant] -- Working provincially and nationally [Manitoba Indian Brotherhood ; A year at university (University of Manitoba) ; National Indian Brotherhood ; Travelling to Israel ; Freelance consultant ; "Not a prophet in your own land"] -- The University of British Columbia [Native Indian Teacher Education Program (NITEP) ; Ts' 'Kel is born ; First Nations House of Learning ; Study Tours to Aotearoa (New Zealand, Australian Aborigines, Maori people) ; Feasibility study on an Aboriginal Languages Institute ; The First Nations Longhouse] -- Retirement -- Leaving Vancouver -- Epilogue : Upon reflection. In the 1980s she became an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia, where she was appointed Director of the Native Teacher Education Program, founded the Ts' 'Kel Graduate Program, and was a driving force behind the creation of the First Nations House of Learning. Honoured by community and country, Kirkness is a visionary who has inspired, and been inspired by, generations of students. Like a long conversation between friends, Creating Space reveals the challenges and misgivings, the burning questions, the successes and failures that have shaped the life of this extraordinary woman and the history of Aboriginal education in Canada.

Date Published:2013

Exes and o's

Lea, Amy,


Romance book connoisseur Tara Chen is determined to find The One. So she decides to revisit her exes in hopes of securing her very own trope-worthy second-chance romance. Boston firefighter Trevor Metcalfe will be the first to rush into a burning building but the last to rush into a relationship.When his new roommate Tara enlists him to help her reconnect with her exes, he reluctantly agrees. But the more time they spend together, the more Tara realizes Trevor seems to be the only one who appreciates her authentic, dramatic self. To claim their happily ever after, can Tara and Trevor read between the lines of their growing connection?
Date Published:2023

Romance book connoisseur Tara Chen is determined to find The One. So she decides to revisit her exes in hopes of securing her very own trope-worthy second-chance romance. Boston firefighter Trevor Metcalfe will be the first to rush into a burning building but the last to rush into a relationship.When his new roommate Tara enlists him to help her reconnect with her exes, he reluctantly agrees. But the more time they spend together, the more Tara realizes Trevor seems to be the only one who appreciates her authentic, dramatic self. To claim their happily ever after, can Tara and Trevor read between the lines of their growing connection?

Date Published:2023

We breed lions : confronting Canada's troubled hockey culture

Westhead, Rick,


In We Breed Lions, award-winning journalist Rick Westhead gives voice to those who have been sexually assaulted by hockey players, revealing the struggles they've had with local police officials in their efforts to seek justice. He also goes inside the dressing room to find out how attitudes of misogyny and homophobia continue to flourish, and speaks to former players who were forced to perform degrading acts of initiation in order to join the team. Westhead offers hope for hockey's future, profiling those individuals and organizations who are committed to educating players around issues of consent, putting an end to hazing and redefining what it means to be a man on and off the ice.
Date Published:2025

In We Breed Lions, award-winning journalist Rick Westhead gives voice to those who have been sexually assaulted by hockey players, revealing the struggles they've had with local police officials in their efforts to seek justice. He also goes inside the dressing room to find out how attitudes of misogyny and homophobia continue to flourish, and speaks to former players who were forced to perform degrading acts of initiation in order to join the team. Westhead offers hope for hockey's future, profiling those individuals and organizations who are committed to educating players around issues of consent, putting an end to hazing and redefining what it means to be a man on and off the ice.

Date Published:2025

Liberté egalité Beyoncé : empowering quotes and wisdom from our fierce and flawless queen

Davis, John,


"Please note: This title is not authorised in any way by Beyoncé Knowles Carter"--Colophon. Who runs the world? With more than 100 million solo records sold worldwide, Beyonce is one of the top-selling music artists in history. She has 22 Grammy Awards, 24 MTV Video Music Awards and has been named the most powerful female in the entertainment industry by Forbes magazine, the Top Radio Songs Artist and Top Female Artist of the 2000s by Billboard, and the Top Certified Artist in America during the 2000s by the Recording Industry Association of America. She is a feminist, inspirational businesswoman, jaw-dropping singer, powerful dancer, ground-breaking artist, iconic mother, and everything else in between. From her early days as a child entrepreneur (she used to charge family friends $5 each to watch her perform) through the complicated but star-making Destiny's Child era, to Bey's domination, Liberte, Egalite, Beyonce brings Queen Bey's inspiring and empowering quotes and moments of fierceness together, to help you slay every day.
Date Published:2018

"Please note: This title is not authorised in any way by Beyoncé Knowles Carter"--Colophon. Who runs the world? With more than 100 million solo records sold worldwide, Beyonce is one of the top-selling music artists in history. She has 22 Grammy Awards, 24 MTV Video Music Awards and has been named the most powerful female in the entertainment industry by Forbes magazine, the Top Radio Songs Artist and Top Female Artist of the 2000s by Billboard, and the Top Certified Artist in America during the 2000s by the Recording Industry Association of America. She is a feminist, inspirational businesswoman, jaw-dropping singer, powerful dancer, ground-breaking artist, iconic mother, and everything else in between. From her early days as a child entrepreneur (she used to charge family friends $5 each to watch her perform) through the complicated but star-making Destiny's Child era, to Bey's domination, Liberte, Egalite, Beyonce brings Queen Bey's inspiring and empowering quotes and moments of fierceness together, to help you slay every day.

Date Published:2018

He must like you

Younge-Ullman, Danielle.


Libby's having a rough senior year. Her older brother absconded with his college money and is bartending on a Greek island. Her dad just told her she's got to pay for college herself, and he's evicting her when she graduates so he can AirBnB her room. A drunken hook-up with her coworker Kyle has left her upset and confused. So when Perry Ackerman, serial harasser and the most handsy customer at The Goat where she waitresses, pushes her over the edge, she can hardly be blamed for dumping a pitcher of sangria on his head. Unfortunately, Perry is a local industry hero, the restaurant's most important customer and Libby's mom's boss. Now Libby has to navigate the fallout of her outburst, find an apartment and deal with her increasing rage at the guys who've screwed up her life-- and her increasing crush on the one guy who truly gets her.
Date Published:2020

Libby's having a rough senior year. Her older brother absconded with his college money and is bartending on a Greek island. Her dad just told her she's got to pay for college herself, and he's evicting her when she graduates so he can AirBnB her room. A drunken hook-up with her coworker Kyle has left her upset and confused. So when Perry Ackerman, serial harasser and the most handsy customer at The Goat where she waitresses, pushes her over the edge, she can hardly be blamed for dumping a pitcher of sangria on his head. Unfortunately, Perry is a local industry hero, the restaurant's most important customer and Libby's mom's boss. Now Libby has to navigate the fallout of her outburst, find an apartment and deal with her increasing rage at the guys who've screwed up her life-- and her increasing crush on the one guy who truly gets her.

Date Published:2020

The cheat sheet : a novel

Adams, Sarah, 1991-


"The friend zone is not the end zone for Bree Camden, who is helplessly in love with her longtime best friend and extremely hot NFL legend, Nathan Donelson. The only problem is that she can't admit her true feelings, because he clearly sees her as a best friend with no romantic potential, and the last thing Bree wants is to ruin their relationship. But those abs . . . Nope! Nothing but good old-fashioned, no-touching-the-sexiest-man-alive, platonic friendship for Bree. In any case, she has other things to worry about. After a car accident ended her chance at becoming a professional ballerina, Bree changed paths and now owns her own dance studio, with big dreams to expand it. But one more rent increase could mean the end of the studio entirely. Then, as usual, Nathan comes to the rescue and buys the entire building. A stubborn Bree is not happy about it and decides to rebel with a couple-okay, maybe more than a couple-of tequila shots. Then her plan backfires as she spills her deepest, darkest secret to a TMZ reporter. One viral video later, the world thinks Nathan and Bree are the perfect couple. Before they can really talk about her confession, Nathan's publicist proposes a big opportunity that could mean financial security for Bree. The catch? They have to pretend to be in love. For three whole weeks. What will happen when Bree gives in to the feelings she's been desperately hiding for so long, and could she be imagining that Nathan is actually enjoying it? Sarah Adams scores more than touchdowns in this exciting friends-to-lovers romantic comedy"--
Date Published:2022

"The friend zone is not the end zone for Bree Camden, who is helplessly in love with her longtime best friend and extremely hot NFL legend, Nathan Donelson. The only problem is that she can't admit her true feelings, because he clearly sees her as a best friend with no romantic potential, and the last thing Bree wants is to ruin their relationship. But those abs . . . Nope! Nothing but good old-fashioned, no-touching-the-sexiest-man-alive, platonic friendship for Bree. In any case, she has other things to worry about. After a car accident ended her chance at becoming a professional ballerina, Bree changed paths and now owns her own dance studio, with big dreams to expand it. But one more rent increase could mean the end of the studio entirely. Then, as usual, Nathan comes to the rescue and buys the entire building. A stubborn Bree is not happy about it and decides to rebel with a couple-okay, maybe more than a couple-of tequila shots. Then her plan backfires as she spills her deepest, darkest secret to a TMZ reporter. One viral video later, the world thinks Nathan and Bree are the perfect couple. Before they can really talk about her confession, Nathan's publicist proposes a big opportunity that could mean financial security for Bree. The catch? They have to pretend to be in love. For three whole weeks. What will happen when Bree gives in to the feelings she's been desperately hiding for so long, and could she be imagining that Nathan is actually enjoying it? Sarah Adams scores more than touchdowns in this exciting friends-to-lovers romantic comedy"--

Date Published:2022

All your perfects : a novel

Hoover, Colleen,


Quinn and Graham's perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair.
Date Published:2018

Secretly yours : a novel

Bailey, Tessa.


Hallie Welch fell hard for Julian Vos at fourteen, after they almost kissed in the dark vineyards of his family's winery. Now the prodigal hottie has returned to their small Napa town. When Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate, she wonders if she'll finally get that smooch. But the grumpy professor isn't the teenager she remembers and their polar opposite personalities clash spectacularly. One wine-fueled girls' night later, Hallie can't shake the sense that she did something reckless--and then she remembers the drunken secret admirer letter she left for Julian. Oh shit. On sabbatical from his ivy league job, Julian plans write a novel. But having Hallie gardening right outside his window is the ultimate distraction. She's eccentric, chronically late, often literally covered in dirt--and so unbelievably beautiful, he can't focus on anything else. Until he finds an anonymous letter sent by a woman from his past. Even as Julian wonders about this admirer, he's sucked further into Hallie's orbit. Like the flowers she plants all over town, Hallie is a burst of color in Julian's grey-scale life. For a man who irons his socks and runs on tight schedules, her sunny chaotic energy makes zero sense. But there's something so familiar about her... and her very presence is turning his world upside down.
Date Published:2023

Hallie Welch fell hard for Julian Vos at fourteen, after they almost kissed in the dark vineyards of his family's winery. Now the prodigal hottie has returned to their small Napa town. When Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate, she wonders if she'll finally get that smooch. But the grumpy professor isn't the teenager she remembers and their polar opposite personalities clash spectacularly. One wine-fueled girls' night later, Hallie can't shake the sense that she did something reckless--and then she remembers the drunken secret admirer letter she left for Julian. Oh shit. On sabbatical from his ivy league job, Julian plans write a novel. But having Hallie gardening right outside his window is the ultimate distraction. She's eccentric, chronically late, often literally covered in dirt--and so unbelievably beautiful, he can't focus on anything else. Until he finds an anonymous letter sent by a woman from his past. Even as Julian wonders about this admirer, he's sucked further into Hallie's orbit. Like the flowers she plants all over town, Hallie is a burst of color in Julian's grey-scale life. For a man who irons his socks and runs on tight schedules, her sunny chaotic energy makes zero sense. But there's something so familiar about her... and her very presence is turning his world upside down.

Date Published:2023

A lush and seething hell : two tales of cosmic horror

Jacobs, John Hornor,


The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky examines life in a South American dictatorship. Centered on the journal of a poet-in-exile and his failed attempts at translating a maddening text, it is told by a young woman trying to come to grips with a country that nearly devoured itself. In My Heart Struck Sorrow, a librarian discovers a recording from the Deep South—which may be the musical stylings of the Devil himself.
Date Published:2019

The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky examines life in a South American dictatorship. Centered on the journal of a poet-in-exile and his failed attempts at translating a maddening text, it is told by a young woman trying to come to grips with a country that nearly devoured itself. In My Heart Struck Sorrow, a librarian discovers a recording from the Deep South—which may be the musical stylings of the Devil himself.

Date Published:2019

The neighbor favor

Forest, Kristina.


Includes readers guide. A shy bookworm enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date, not knowing he's the obscure author she's been corresponding with, in this sparkling and heart-fluttering romance by Kristina Forest. Shy, bookish, and admittedly awkward, Lily Greene has always felt inadequate compared to the rest of her accomplished family, who strive for Black excellence. She dreams of becoming a children's book editor, but she's been frustratingly stuck in the nonfiction division for years without a promotion in sight. Lily finds escapism in her correspondences with her favorite fantasy author, and what begins as two lonely people connecting over email turns into a tentative friendship and possibly something else Lily won't let herself entertain-until he ghosts her without a word. Months later, Lily is still crushed, but she's determined to get a hold of her life, starting with finding a date to her sister's wedding. And the perfect person to help her is Nick Brown, her charming, attractive new neighbor, who she feels drawn to for reasons she can't explain. But little does she know, Nick is an author-her favorite fantasy author. Nick, who has his reasons for using a pen name and pushing people away, soon realizes that the beautiful, quiet girl from down the hall is the same Lily he fell in love with over email months ago. Unwilling to complicate things even more between them, he agrees to set her up with someone else, though this simple favor between two neighbors is anything but-not when he can't get her off his mind...
Date Published:2023

Includes readers guide. A shy bookworm enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date, not knowing he's the obscure author she's been corresponding with, in this sparkling and heart-fluttering romance by Kristina Forest. Shy, bookish, and admittedly awkward, Lily Greene has always felt inadequate compared to the rest of her accomplished family, who strive for Black excellence. She dreams of becoming a children's book editor, but she's been frustratingly stuck in the nonfiction division for years without a promotion in sight. Lily finds escapism in her correspondences with her favorite fantasy author, and what begins as two lonely people connecting over email turns into a tentative friendship and possibly something else Lily won't let herself entertain-until he ghosts her without a word. Months later, Lily is still crushed, but she's determined to get a hold of her life, starting with finding a date to her sister's wedding. And the perfect person to help her is Nick Brown, her charming, attractive new neighbor, who she feels drawn to for reasons she can't explain. But little does she know, Nick is an author-her favorite fantasy author. Nick, who has his reasons for using a pen name and pushing people away, soon realizes that the beautiful, quiet girl from down the hall is the same Lily he fell in love with over email months ago. Unwilling to complicate things even more between them, he agrees to set her up with someone else, though this simple favor between two neighbors is anything but-not when he can't get her off his mind...

Date Published:2023

Dune

Herbert, Frank.


Follows the adventures of Paul Atreides, the son of a betrayed duke given up for dead on a treacherous desert planet and adopted by its fierce, nomadic people, who help him unravel his most unexpected destiny.
Date Published:2021

This one looks like a boy : my gender journey to life as a man

Shenher, Lorimer


"In this candid and thoughtful memoir, Shenher shares the story of his gender journey, from childhood gender dysphoria to teenage sexual experimentation to early-adult denial of his identity--and finally the acceptance that he is trans, culminating in gender reassignment surgery in his fifties. Along the way, he details his childhood in booming Calgary, his struggles with alcohol, and his eventual move to Vancouver, where he became the first detective assigned to the case of serial killer Robert Pickton (the subject of his critically acclaimed book That Lonely Section of Hell). With warmth and openness, This One Looks Like A Boy takes us through one of the most important decisions Shenher will ever make, as he comes into his own and finally discovers acceptance and relief."
Date Published:2019

"In this candid and thoughtful memoir, Shenher shares the story of his gender journey, from childhood gender dysphoria to teenage sexual experimentation to early-adult denial of his identity--and finally the acceptance that he is trans, culminating in gender reassignment surgery in his fifties. Along the way, he details his childhood in booming Calgary, his struggles with alcohol, and his eventual move to Vancouver, where he became the first detective assigned to the case of serial killer Robert Pickton (the subject of his critically acclaimed book That Lonely Section of Hell). With warmth and openness, This One Looks Like A Boy takes us through one of the most important decisions Shenher will ever make, as he comes into his own and finally discovers acceptance and relief."

Date Published:2019

The dictionary of lost words : a novel

Williams, Pip, 1969-,


Prologue: February 1886 -- Part 1: 1887-1896. Batten-distrustful -- Part 2: 1897-1901. Distrustfully-kyx -- Part 3: 1902-1907. Lap-nywe -- Part 4: 1907-1913. Polygenous-sorrow -- Part 5: 1914-1915. Speech-sullen -- Part 6: 1928. Wise-wyzen -- Epilogue: Adelaide, 1989. Before the lost word, there was another. It arrived at the Scriptorium in a second-hand envelope, the old address crossed out and Dr Murray, Sunnyside, Oxford, written in its place. It was Da's job to open the post and mine to sit on his lap, like a queen on her throne, and help him ease each word out of its folded cradle. He'd tell me what pile to put it on and sometimes he'd pause, cover my hand with his, and guide my finger up and down and around the letters, sounding them into my ear. He'd say the word, and I would echo it, then he'd tell me what it meant. Motherless, Esme spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip, and is told that the word means "slave girl." Learning that words relating to women's and common folks' experiences often go unrecorded, Esme begins to collect other words discarded by the dictionary men. As she grows up, Esme begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: the Dictionary of Lost Words.
Date Published:2020

Prologue: February 1886 -- Part 1: 1887-1896. Batten-distrustful -- Part 2: 1897-1901. Distrustfully-kyx -- Part 3: 1902-1907. Lap-nywe -- Part 4: 1907-1913. Polygenous-sorrow -- Part 5: 1914-1915. Speech-sullen -- Part 6: 1928. Wise-wyzen -- Epilogue: Adelaide, 1989. Before the lost word, there was another. It arrived at the Scriptorium in a second-hand envelope, the old address crossed out and Dr Murray, Sunnyside, Oxford, written in its place. It was Da's job to open the post and mine to sit on his lap, like a queen on her throne, and help him ease each word out of its folded cradle. He'd tell me what pile to put it on and sometimes he'd pause, cover my hand with his, and guide my finger up and down and around the letters, sounding them into my ear. He'd say the word, and I would echo it, then he'd tell me what it meant. Motherless, Esme spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip, and is told that the word means "slave girl." Learning that words relating to women's and common folks' experiences often go unrecorded, Esme begins to collect other words discarded by the dictionary men. As she grows up, Esme begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: the Dictionary of Lost Words.

Date Published:2020