The Grammarians : A Novel

BO/OKISH. a. [from book.] Given to books.
-A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson

Cathleen Schine's The Grammarians tells the story of Daphne and Laurel, word-obsessed twins bound together by their shared obsession, and also torn apart by it. One grows up to become a well-known language columnist, while the other becomes a poet-each poem an unlikely sampling of lines from a 1940s linguistics manual. Their once-united enthusiasm fo…