The Liar's Dictionary

An exhilarating and laugh-out-loud debut novel from a prize-winning new talent which chronicles the 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.* Peter Winceworth, Victorian lexicographer, is toiling away at the letter S for Swansby's multivolume *Encyclopaedic Dictionary*. His disaffection compels him to insert unauthorized fictitious entries into the dictionary in an attempt to assert some sense of individual purpose and artistic freedom. In the present day, Mallory, a young intern employed by the publisher, is tasked with uncovering these *mountweazels* before the work is digitized. She also has to contend with threatening phone calls from an anonymous caller. Is the change in the definition of *marriage* really *that* upsetting? And does the caller really intend for the Swansby's staff to 'burn in hell'? As these two narratives combine, both Winceworth and Mallory disco