{"product_id":"9780735281493","title":"The Liar's Dictionary","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e“You wouldn’t expect a comic novel about a dictionary to be a thriller too, but this one is. In fact, [it] is also a mystery, love story (two of them) and cliffhanging melodrama.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn exhilarating, clever, funny debut novel from a prize-winning talent, chronicling the misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman who decodes his trail of made-up words a century later. Will enthrall readers of CS Richardson, Helen Simonson's \u003ci\u003eMajor Pettigrew \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eEleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eMountweazel \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e(n.)\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003ethe  phenomenon  of  false  entries within  dictionaries  and  works  of  reference.  Often  used as a safeguard against copyright infringement.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIn the final year of the nineteenth century,  Peter  Winceworth  is  toiling  away  at  the letter \u003ci\u003eS\u003c\/i\u003e for  Swansby’s  multivolume \u003ci\u003eEncyclopaedic Dictionary\u003c\/i\u003e. Increasingly  uneasy  that  his  colleagues  are  attempting to corral language and regiment facts, Winceworth feels compelled to assert some sense of individual purpose and  artistic  freedom,  and  begins  inserting  unauthorized, fictitious entries into the dictionary.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIn the present day, Mallory, a young intern employed by the publisher, must uncover these mountweazels before the  work  is  digitized  for  modern  readers. Through  the words  and  their  definitions,  she  begins  to  sense  their creator’s motivations, hopes and desires. More pressingly, she also has to contend with threatening phone calls from an  anonymous  caller.  Is  the  change  in  the  definition  of \u003ci\u003emarriage\u003c\/i\u003e (n.) really \u003ci\u003ethat\u003c\/i\u003e controversial? And does the caller truly intend for the Swansby’s staff to “burn in hell”?\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAs  these  two  narratives  combine,  Winceworth  and Mallory,  separated  by  one  hundred  years,  must  discover how  to  negotiate  the  complexities  of  the  often  untrustworthy,  hoax-strewn  and  undefinable  path  we  call  life. An  exhilarating  and  laugh-out-loud  debut, \u003ci\u003eThe  Liar’s Dictionary\u003c\/i\u003e celebrates the rigidity, fragility, absurdity and joy  of  language  while  peering  into  questions  of  identity and finding one’s place in the world.","brand":"Eley Williams","offers":[{"title":"Knopf Canada |  Hardback  |  2021-01-05","offer_id":44151312613631,"sku":"9780735281493","price":29.95,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0329\/9075\/7001\/products\/BNCImageAPI_efd5856b-4697-4378-980f-d3811ad4b518.jpg?v=1636351449","url":"https:\/\/riverbookshop.com\/products\/9780735281493","provider":"River Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}