Guilty By Definition

by SUSIE DENT, Chosen by Teresa Morgan.

The story is based around the Clarendon English Dictionary office which is situated in Oxford. A letter arrives which is not a normal enquiry, and links to the disappearance of the brilliant older sister of the main character Martha, who went missing ten years earlier, with no leads until the arrival of this letter. Further letters arrive, which have linguistic clues which Martha and her team follow, uncovering the missing sister’s powerful secret and demise. 

Readers enjoyed the Oxford setting, and the work revealed in the editing and researching of words, but thought the excessive vocabulary got in the way of a good plot. It was felt that the author ‘being clever’ was showing off her particular strengths and making the reader feel stupid. Some thought there were too many characters, which they found confusing, whilst others liked the characters. Most liked the concept of the base story but found it too wordy, and felt that a good editor could have reduced it by a third. Most felt the the link words, although interesting, were not needed and could not see how they were related to the assigned chapters. Some found it to be a struggle to read, especially the first half, “a bit of a journey” - “had to persevere and stick with it”. The second half was found to be more enjoyable. Most, eventually, enjoyed many aspects of the book, and thought it to be very “clever”, perhaps too clever, but would not necessarily recommend it to everyone. 

It was noted that the author Susie Dent was the reason that the book sold so well.