02272cam a2200373 i 4500 481048105 TxAuBib 20210201120000.0 200408s2020||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 9780385546775 hardcover $26.95 0385546777 hardcover $26.95 TxAuBib rda Williams, Eley,. The liar's dictionary : a novel / Eley Williams. First United States edition. New York : Doubleday, 2020. 270 pages ; 22 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Originally published: London : William Heinemann, 2020. Peter Winceworth, a disaffected Victorian lexicographer, inserts false entries into a dictionary – violating and subverting the dictionary’s authority – in an attempt to assert some sense of individual purpose and artistic freedom. In the present day, Mallory, a young overworked and underpaid intern employed by the dictionary’s publishing house, is tasked with uncovering these entries before the work is digitised. As the novel progresses and their narratives combine, as Winceworth imagines who will find his fictional words in an unknown future and Mallory discovers more about the anonymous lexicographer’s life through the clues left in his fictitious entries, both discover how they might negotiate the complexities of an absurd, relentless, untrustworthy, hoax-strewn, undefinable life. Braiding together contemporary and historical narratives, the novel explores themes of trust, agency and creativity, celebrating the rigidity, fragility and absurdity of language. 20210201. Lexicographers Fiction. Encyclopedias and dictionaries Fiction. Truthfulness and falsehood Fiction. English language Etymology Fiction. Unrequited love Fiction. Coming out (Sexual orientation) Fiction. Threats of violence Fiction. Great Britain History Victoria, 1837-1901 Fiction. Historical fiction. Romance fiction.