A WINNER OF THE 2021 BETTY TRASK AWARDSSHORTLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2021__________________________’Joyous’ SPECTATOR’Remarkable’ SUNDAY TIMES’A playful delight… A glorious novel’ OBSERVERSwansby’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?__________________________’Made me almost tearful with gratitude that a book as clever as this could give such uncomplicated pleasure … And when you find a book like this, you grab it, and you hold it close.’ JOHN SELF’A delight … As funny and vivid as Dickens, as moving and memorable as Nabokov … An extraordinarily