The Liar’s Dictionary

NATIONAL BESTSELLER ΓÇó ΓÇ£You wouldnΓÇÖt expect a comic novel about a dictionary to be a thriller too,but this one is. In fact[it] is also a mysterylove story (two of them) and cliffhanging melodrama.ΓÇ¥ ΓÇöThe New York Times Book Review An award-winning novel that chronicles the charming misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman put on his trail a century later to root out his misdeeds while confronting questions of her own sexuality and place in the world. Mountweazel n. the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement. In the final year of the nineteenth centuryPeter Winceworth is toiling away at the letter S for SwansbyΓÇÖs multivolume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. But his disaffection with his colleagues compels him to assert some individual purpose and artistic freedomand he begins inserting unauthorizedfictitious entries. In the present dayMallorythe publisherΓÇÖs young internstarts to uncover these mountweazels in the process of digitization and through them senses their creatorΓÇÖs motivationshopesand desires. More pressinglysheΓÇÖs also been contending with a threateninganonymous caller who wants SwansbyΓÇÖs staff to ΓÇ£burn in hell.ΓÇ¥ As these two narratives coalesceWinceworth and Malloryseparated by one hundred yearsmust discover how to negotiate the complexities of lifeΓÇÖs often untrustworthyhoax-strewnand undefinable path. An exhilaratinglaugh-out-loud debutThe LiarΓÇÖs Dictionary celebrates the rigidityfragilityabsurdityand joy of language while peering into questions of identity and finding oneΓÇÖs place in the world.