A Granta Best Young British Novelist 'A thrilling love for the stuff of language … Magical' JON McGREGOR 'A visionary writer' JAN CARSON 'Erudite and audacious' KIERAN GODDARD
Eley Williams Book order (chronological)
Eley Williams explores the boundaries of language and its capacity to capture the complexities of human experience. Her writing often focuses on unusual perspectives and unexpected connections, revealing hidden ironies and resonances within everyday life. Through playful linguistic dexterity and keen observation, Williams transforms familiar situations into something strange and unsettling, yet profoundly human.
The Liar's Dictionary
- 254 pages
- 9 hours of reading
It is the final year of the 19th century and Peter Winceworth has reached the letter 'S', toiling away for the much-anticipated and multi-volume 'Swansby's New Encyclopaedic Dictionary'. He is overwhelmed at his desk and increasingly uneasy that his colleagues are attempting to corral language and regiment facts. Compelled to assert some sense of individual purpose and exercise artistic freedom, Winceworth begins inserting unauthorised, fictitious entries into the dictionary. In the present day, young intern Mallory is tasked with uncovering these mountweazels as the text of the dictionary is digitised for modern readers. Through the words and their definitions she finds she has access to their creator's motivations, hopes and desires. More pressingly, she must also field daily threatening anonymous phone calls.