Published By: Zaffre
Pages: 400
Released On: 15/08/2024
When an anonymous letter is delivered to the Clarendon English Dictionary, it is rapidly clear that this is not the usual lexicographical enquiry. Instead, the letter hints at secrets and lies linked to a particular year.
For Martha Thornhill, the new senior editor, the date can mean only one thing: the summer her brilliant older sister Charlie went missing. After a decade abroad, Martha has returned home to the city whose ancient institutions have long defined her family. Have the ghosts she left behind her been waiting for her return?
When more letters arrive, and Martha and her team pull apart the complex clues within them, the mystery becomes ever more insistent and troubling. It seems Charlie had been keeping a powerful secret, and someone is trying to lead the lexicographers towards the truth. But other forces are no less desperate to keep it well and truly buried.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Zaffre for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I don’t think I’ve been so excited about a book more than this one, right here, right now! I have two of her non-fiction books – Interesting Stories About Curious Words, and An Emotional Dictionary – and was overjoyed to see she’d written a novel.
Even if you didn’t know who Susie Dent was or what she did for a job, you would instantly be aware that she has a passion for words and the history of words, the sanctity of words, and their future. This book is so rich, the calibre of language used.
I’m always a bit wary about celebrity novels. There have been some I have absolutely loved and it’s clear writing is in their blood (Graham Norton for example), and others (who I won’t name) who have clearly traded on their name with lacklustre stories. So when a new celebrity brings out a novel, there is a worry about which category it will fall in. But Susie doesn’t have to worry about that. We already know that words are in her blood, but to be able to use them to create such a well crafted novel, that was a really lovely surprise.
On an immature note, she uses the word “skulduggery” quite early on, and for some reason that word always makes me giggle, and I feel we need to use it more in everyday conversation.
It’s got a bit of everything, there’s glamour and intrigue, mystery and thrill; there’s a definite Agatha Christie/Morse aspect about it which I loved. It had this nostalgic feeling about traditional whodunnits. And setting it in Oxford really helps ramp that up.
It is very clever, highly intellectual, fascinating, thrilling, and absorbing. It is very involved. There’s love affairs, thievery, missing people, illness, jealousy, riddles, Shakespeare – it’s all there, and at times potentially feels a little bit too much but overall I think she’s found a good balance.
There are quite a lot of characters so I won’t go into them into detail, but I liked them all. They’re not all really nice characters, non are perfect, each have their histories and secrets. But whether they’re “goodies” or “baddies”, they have al been developed marvellously and they feel very real.
Not to sound a bit dim, considering I have qualifications in English and am a copywriter by trade, but there were definitely words that I didn’t understand and had to look up. And that would annoy me generally, but in context it worked. Because it’s a book about the use of words. And it meant I could do some googling and I ended up getting lost in a dictionary, which I quite enjoyed.
Susie has really given us a sense of space, particularly Oxford. I love Oxford; I’ve only been a few times but I really like it there, and I think she’s depicted it perfectly, from the mundane everyday to the historical aspects.
I did have my suspicions as to what had happened, when, where, and by whom, and I was right on one account, but didn’t see the other coming, so very well done.
There were a few bits I felt were explored for a bit too long and some I wish were explored a little bit more so on occasion there’s a few pacing issues, for me.
After all of that, I say it’s a very promising debut novel. It’s well written, exciting, suspenseful, detailed, with marvellously created settings and characters. And yes, I’m sure having Susie Dent’s name on the front will make people buy it, but it’ll be her talent and passion for words that will make people read it.
Books By Your Bedside 