June 1906: Chapter 13 Summary, Themes, and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary — June 1906

The chapter opens on the 9th of June with the opening night of Much Ado About Nothing at the New Theatre. Esme sits in the wings with Bill, who helps the actors with costumes. During the performance, Bill notices the scar on Esme's hand and asks how she got it. She tells him about the slip she found as a child — the word bondmaid — and how she thought it was important. Bill listens without judgment, and Esme feels a growing closeness to him.

Back in the Scriptorium, Dr. Murray returns from a meeting with the Press Delegates and berates the assistants for the slow progress on the letter M — three years in, they have only published up to mesnalty. The tension is palpable; the assistants work in silence until Dr. Murray finally releases them at six o'clock. Esme notices that Da has spent extra time on the word mense (meaning generous, kind, tactful), and that Dr. Murray has crossed out several of his quotations.

Esme takes Lizzie to her first theatre performance. Before the play, they meet Tilda and Bill at the Old Tom pub. Lizzie is visibly uncomfortable — her one good dress is stained, and she hesitates at the doorway of the pub as she once hesitated at the Scriptorium. Tilda is warm but worldly, and Lizzie's discomfort is palpable. After the play, Lizzie tells Da she only understood half of it, and that while Tilda and Bill were polite, she cannot say she has met people like them before.

The following Monday, Da gives Esme an unexpected speech. He tells her that the more he defines words, the less he knows, and that the Dictionary is a history book — the way we conceive of things now will change. He tells her she is a grown woman and it is her right to make her own choices, and that he cannot insist on approving of them. He kisses her scarred fingers and holds them to his cheek, in a moment that feels like a farewell.

Esme asks Dr. Murray for more meaningful work. He gives her a research task: to follow up on a note from her godmother Edith Thompson about pencil variants. Thompson's note explains that she asked for an eye-pencil at a hairdresser's and was offered brown, chestnut, black, and reddish-brown, but that the term lip-pencil was not recognised.

Meanwhile, Tilda reveals she has joined the suffrage movement — the WSPU, under the Pankhursts. She organises a leaflet-distribution meeting at the Eagle and Child pub. Twelve women gather, and Esme is drawn in despite her hesitation. Tilda gives Esme a packet of leaflets and a route along Banbury Road. Esme delivers them, including one to her own letterbox at Sunnyside. The next morning, Da finds the leaflet among the post and, instead of discarding it, places it in a pile and passes it to Esme, saying it might interest her.

Lizzie discovers the leaflets in Esme's coat pocket and confronts her. They argue about the suffrage movement: Lizzie calls it a lot of rich ladies wanting more than they already have, while Esme insists it is about all women having a say. Lizzie warns Esme that she is not as worldly as Tilda and Bill, and tells her that if she has choices, she should choose well.

After the final performance of Much Ado About Nothing, Esme and Bill begin an intimate relationship. Tilda has taught Esme about the clitoris — a word she spells out for Esme to write on a slip — and Esme now has language for what she feels. Over three evenings, Bill explores her body, and Esme discovers pleasure she did not know existed.

Tilda gives Esme a parting gift: a lip-pencil, eye-pencil, and eyebrow-pencil, plus red lipstick. Esme records a slip for lip-pencil using a sentence Tilda invents on the spot. Tilda and Bill then prepare to leave for Manchester, where Tilda will work for the WSPU, using her stage skills to project her voice and sound posh.

Key Events

Esme tells Bill the story of the bondmaid slip and the scar on her hand.
Dr. Murray berates the assistants over slow progress on the letter M.
Lizzie attends her first theatre performance and meets Tilda and Bill.
Da tells Esme she must make her own choices and that he cannot insist on approving.
Esme receives a research task on pencil variants from Dr. Murray.
Tilda joins the WSPU and organises a leaflet-distribution meeting at the Eagle and Child.
Esme delivers suffrage leaflets along Banbury Road, including to her own letterbox.
Da finds the leaflet and passes it to Esme without disapproval.
Lizzie discovers the leaflets and argues with Esme about the movement.
Esme and Bill begin an intimate relationship after the final performance.
Tilda gives Esme makeup pencils, and Esme records a slip for lip-pencil.
Tilda and Bill leave for Manchester, where Tilda will work for the WSPU.

Character Development

Esme undergoes significant growth in this chapter. She moves from passive observer to active participant — in politics, in her work, and in her body. She asks Dr. Murray for more meaningful work, delivers leaflets despite her fear, and begins a sexual relationship with Bill. She also continues her habit of recording words that the Dictionary has missed: sisters, suffragette, and lip-pencil. Her recording of lip-pencil with a quotation invented by Tilda is a notable departure from the Dictionary's rules, showing her growing willingness to bend the system.

Lizzie is revealed more fully here. Her discomfort at the pub and the theatre, her worn dress, and her argument with Esme all show the class divide between her world and Tilda's. Her line about choice — that from where she stands things look much the same as they always have — is a quiet but powerful counterpoint to Esme's optimism.

Da gives Esme the most direct expression of trust he has offered. Rather than invoking Lily's wisdom or waiting for a letter from Ditte, he speaks plainly: Esme is a grown woman, and it is her right to make her own choices. This is a pivotal moment in their relationship.

Tilda becomes fully committed to the suffrage cause, and her departure for Manchester marks a shift in the novel's momentum. Bill deepens his relationship with Esme, and his shyness on the final night suggests genuine feeling beneath his easy charm.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

The vote as a symbol of agency. Tilda's parting words — that without the vote nothing women say matters — frame the suffrage movement as a struggle for the power to be heard.

Class divisions among women. The contrast between Lizzie and Tilda is stark: Lizzie's worn dress and practical weariness versus Tilda's confidence and theatrical flair. Their argument about the leaflets reveals how the movement could feel remote to working-class women.

Female sexuality and bodily knowledge. Tilda's lesson about the clitoris — a word Esme writes on a slip — connects bodily knowledge to the novel's broader theme of language defining reality. Esme's relationship with Bill is described through the lens of this new vocabulary.

The power of language to define reality. Suffragette is not yet in the Dictionary, and lip-pencil is not recognised by hairdressers. Esme's recording of these words — even with an invented quotation — shows her commitment to capturing lived experience that the Dictionary has missed.

Choice and self-determination. Da's speech is the chapter's thematic heart: the Dictionary is a history book, and the future will be different from the past. Esme must decide what ideas and experiences should be included.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter marks a turning point in Esme's life. Politically, she moves from sympathy to action, delivering leaflets and recording the word suffragette for the first time. Personally, she begins a sexual relationship with Bill, and her body becomes a site of knowledge and pleasure that she can name. The departure of Tilda and Bill for Manchester removes two of her closest companions, leaving her to navigate the suffrage movement and her own desires alone. Da's speech — his explicit trust in her judgment — gives her permission to make her own choices, even as Lizzie's warning reminds her that choice is not equally available to all women. The chapter also deepens the novel's central concern with the gap between recorded and lived experience: the words Esme collects — sisters, suffragette, lip-pencil — are precisely the ones the Dictionary is missing.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the chapter contrast Lizzie's and Tilda's perspectives on the suffrage movement?

Lizzie sees the movement as a cause for rich ladies who already have more than she does. Her life is shaped by necessity — salting birds, mending hems, setting fires — and she cannot imagine a day trip to London for a march. Tilda, by contrast, is confident, theatrical, and fully committed; she tells Esme that without the vote nothing women say matters. The contrast reveals the class divisions within the movement itself, and Lizzie's warning that Esme is not as worldly as Tilda and Bill suggests that Esme's political awakening may be more comfortable than Lizzie's lived reality.

2. What does Esme's recording of lip-pencil and suffragette reveal about the Dictionary's limitations?

Both words are absent from the Dictionary's pigeon-holes. Suffragette appears in newspapers but has not been collected; lip-pencil is not recognised even by hairdressers. Esme's decision to record them — and to accept a quotation invented by Tilda for lip-pencil — shows her willingness to bend the Dictionary's rules to capture words that reflect women's lives. This connects to the novel's broader theme that the Dictionary, as a historical record, has gaps where women's experiences should be.

3. How does Da's speech about choice change Esme's relationship with her father?

Da has previously relied on Lily's imagined wisdom or letters from Ditte to guide Esme. Here, he speaks directly, telling her that the Dictionary is a history book and that the future will be different from the past. He says he cannot insist on approving of her choices, and he kisses her scarred fingers — a gesture that acknowledges the bondmaid incident without judgment. This moment gives Esme permission to act independently, and it is the first time Da has explicitly trusted her judgment without qualification.