Jasper Fforde
The Eyre Affair (2002)
Author: Jasper Fforde
Genre: Fantasy (Alternate History)/Mystery(Police Procedural)
Plot Summary:
In an alternate London, 1985 the world is very different. Time travel is routine, werewolves and vampires are real, and everyone is a bibliophile. London is a veritable Police State and run by the Special Ops. Thursday Next is an operative of SO-27 or the LiteraTecs. Their job is to investigate all literary crimes and it’s not the most glamorous position. When original manuscripts start going missing with no evidence left behind, Thursday is promoted to SO-5 because of her history with the number one suspect. Thursday is drawn deeper and deeper into the mystery and when Jane Eyre is plucked from the pages of her narrative it’s up to Thursday to bring her back. SPOILER: Anyone who has read Jane Eyre will notice early on that something is amiss. Thursday keeps mentioning the unsatisfactory ending of the novel. In the alternative world Jane Eyre ends with Jane choosing to stay with St. John Rivers and never return to Mr. Rochester, which is definitely not the way the story actually ends. When Thursday is sent into the novel to protect the recently retrieved Jane she ends up changing the story to the ending that readers will recognize.
Geographical Setting: London and Swindon, England
Time Period: Alternative History (1985)
Series: Book 1 in the Thursday Next series.
Appeal Characteristics:
Fforde provides readers with a whole new world without actually taking them away from home. The London of Thursday’s world is very different and yet completely recognizable. The pacing of the novel varies from page turning excitement to compelling character development. The narrative will draw readers in and the characters will make them want to keep reading. Thursday is a believable character who will appeal to a wide audience. The alternate history will be interesting to those who are fans of science fiction and the police procedural drama will appeal to fans of mysteries and crime dramas. This is a book lover’s book, the narrative is filled with literary references and wordplay that will be fun for literature buffs. The narrative is not traditional science fiction and may be off-putting to fans of Asimov, Clarke, or Dick, but will appeal to those who are not usually fans of the genre.
Read-alikes: Those who find themselves drawn to the world of Thursday Next will be pleased to know that there are three other books in the series. The next title is Lost in a Good Book and finds Thursday fighting to save Landen from the overly powerful Goliath Co. She finds help from an old enemy and the literary figure, Miss Havisham of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Terry Pratchett is another author who, like Fforde, effortlessly weaves humor into his narratives. While the Discworld series is fantasy, not science fiction, it will appeal to those who enjoy Fforde’s novels. The best place to start would be the more police procedural stories that follow the Nightwatch of Ankh-Morpork. The book Guards! Guards! follows the Carrot, a dwarf cop who is eager to make arrests and accidently sets loose a large dragon in the process. For those who like a little humor mixed in with their science fiction, Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy will be very appealing. The three part series follows the exploits and ridiculous adventures of the traveler, Arthur Dent as he makes his way across the galaxy following the destruction of the Earth. Another author who frequently mixes science fiction and humor is Connie Willis. A good book to start with is her novel To Say Nothing of the Dog. Like the world of Thursday Next, this book features a future where time travel is possible. Like Thursday’s father the main characters of Willis’ novel must travel back in time to fix incongruities that threaten the present. For those readers who enjoy Fforde’s literary wit and world play Mark Dunn would be a good choice. His novel Ella Minnow Pea is set in an alternate reality, similar to The Eyre Affair. Dunn’s reality is a world where letters are banned after they’ve fallen off a statue of the city’s founder. The characters struggle to communicate with each other without these letters while starting an uprising to bring them back. Finally, maybe the most obvious book for someone who enjoyed The Eyre Affair is Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. In order to fully enjoy Fforde’s novel it would be beneficial to have read Bronte’s.
Red Flags: some violence
The Well of Lost Plots (2004)
Author: Jasper Fforde
Genre (and subgenre): Fantasy/Detective (humorous, secondary worlds)
Plot Summary:
Thursday Next is on “tactical retreat” from the real world after the eradication of her husband. Thursday is a human on exchange with a character in an unpublished mystery in the BookWorld. The Well of Lost Plots makes up the 26 sub-basements of the Great Library (where all English works of fiction are stored). All books are “written” in the well, and this is where unpublished novels reside. Generic characters are recycled, viruses attack, plot devices are sold on the black market. Thursday suspects that the death of a fictional character was not an accident, and solving his murder leads to unraveling a plot to guarantee the use of the new UltraWord operating system to commercialize the writing, publishing, and reading of fiction, which would replace the longstanding traditions of book building in the Well. Fforde drops many names and uses puns, literary devices, and visual gags to illustrate the world of collective imagination.
Geographical Setting: England and the “Great Library,” a fictional world that houses fiction, written and unwritten
Time Period: circa 1985
Series: The third Thursday Next novel
Appeal Characteristics:
Intended for people who like reading about books and writing. Humorous/light tone. Exploration and development of world is stressed over development of characters – the protagonist is complex, but “characterization” is a gimmick actually used to make a point for different types of characters. Some social commentary. Slow pace at first, builds up to the solving of the “mystery.” Detailed setting, with a combination of real and imagined elements.
Similar Authors: Douglas Adams
Red Flags: a couple of British swears, no sex, but promiscuity is referred to offhandedly. The “off-screen” villain is a right-wing politician
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