The eagerly anticipated, playful, and profound debut novel from an utterly original, award-winning writer.
BETTY TRASK AWARD WINNER 2021
SHORTLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2021
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'Joyous' SPECTATOR
'Remarkable' SUNDAY TIMES
'A playful delight... A glorious novel' OBSERVER
Swansby's New Encyclopaedic Dictionary is riddled with fictitious entries known as mountweazels penned by Peter Winceworth, a man wishing to make his lasting mark back in 1899. It's up to young intern Mallory to uncover these mountweazels before the dictionary can be digitised for modern readers.
Lost in Winceworth's imagination - a world full of meaningless words - will Mallory finally discover the secret to living a meaningful life?