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Oxford, England. After a decade abroad, Martha Thornhill has returned home to the city whose ancient institutions have long defined her family. But the ghosts she had thought to be at rest seem to have been waiting for her to return. When an anonymous letter is delivered to the Clarendon English Dictionary, where Martha is a newly hired senior editor, it's rapidly clear that this is not the usual lexicographical enquiry. Instead, the coded letter hints at secrets and lies linked to a particular year.
The date can mean only one thing: the summer Martha's brilliant older sister Charlie went missing.
When more letters arrive, Martha and her team pull apart the complex clues within them, and soon, the mystery becomes ever more insistent and troubling. Because it seems Charlie had been keeping a powerful secret, and someone may be trying to lead the lexicographers towards the truth that will unravel the mystery of her disappearance. But other forces are no less desperate to keep their secrets well and truly buried, and Martha and her team must crack the codes before it's too late.
Audiobook includes an exclusive introduction by Susie Dent and Q&A between Susie and Jack Edwards from YouTube.
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Susie Dent is the author of several nonfiction books about words and language. Guilty by Definition is her first novel. She is a broadcaster who specializes in language. She has worked for thirty years as a co-presenter and the resident word expert on BBC Channel 4's Countdown. She comments regularly on television and radio on words in the news.
Louise Brealey, AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator, studied history at Cambridge University before studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in Manhattan. On television, she appeared in the long-running medical drama Casualty on BBC One in 2002, appearing in ninety-six episodes. Afterwards, she appeared in the BBC serialization of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House, as well as Hotel Babylon, Law & Order: UK, Ripper Street, and in all series of Sherlock as Molly Hooper.
When he enrolled as a fresher at Durham University in 2017, Jack Edwards decided to take his camera along with him and document the whole experience on YouTube. He hoped to shed some light on the authentic British university experience, in order to make uni a little bit less intimidating for those currently applying. Now graduating from Durham, Jack continues to share tips for incoming freshers, attempting to increase the accessibility and inclusivity of higher education for all.