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Apr 19, 2021wcbind421 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The author is intoxicated with words. Repetition of words for the sheer sound of them; plays on words (pelican and Pelikan ink, for instance). Onomatopoeia and obscure words that you don't want to interrupt the novel's flow to go look up. 26 chapters, lettered A to Z with headnote words, some real, e.g. Chapter J's "jerque" or made up, e.g. Chapter E's "esquivalience". The setting is Swansby House in London, the office of "Swansby's New Encyclopaedic Dictionary". The chapters alternate between 1899 and the present day. Today, the office holds only 3: David Swansby, his yellow cat Tits (short for Titivillus, a demon who is responsible for inserting mistakes into texts), and intern Mallory. Her chapters are told in the first person. In 1899, the offices are crammed with characters, headed by Gerolf Swansby, a clowder of mousers, and, among many employees, the lexicographer Winceworth. His chapters are in the third person. Mountweazels (fictitious entries): Winceworth creates them as a way to assert himself; Mallory is assigned to ferret them out. In Chapter E ("esquivalience"), we meet Mallory's love interest Pip but since Mallory's not out, she's introduced to David Swansby as Mallory's flatmate. In Chapter H ("humbug"), at brash Frasham's birthday party we meet Sophia whom Winceworth instantly falls in love with, only to discover that she's Frasham's bride-to-be. The second half of the book concerns itself with both Mallory and Winceworth freeing themselves from their self-imposed cages. In each case clarity comes from anger at intentionally being put in harm's way which each narrowly escapes unscathed but with new insight.