The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The first novel in the renowned Thursday Next series, which “combines elements of Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (The Wall Street Journal).
“A literary wonderland [that] recalls Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker series [and] the works of Lewis Carroll.”—USA Today
Meet Thursday Next, “part Bridget Jones, part Nancy Drew, and part Dirty Harry” (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times), a literary detective without equal, fear, or boyfriend—and welcome to a surreal version of Great Britain, circa 1985, where time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wadsworth poem, militant Baconians heckle performances of Hamlet, and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday, renowned Special Operative in literary detection, until someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature.
When Jane Eyre is plucked from the pages of Brontë’s novel, Thursday must track down the villain and enter a novel herself to avert a heinous act of literary homicide.
Don’t miss any of Jasper Fforde’s delightfully entertaining Thursday Next novels:
THE EYRE AFFAIR • LOST IN A GOOD BOOK • THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS • SOMETHING ROTTEN • FIRST AMONG SEQUELS • ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING • THE WOMAN WHO DIED A LOT
“A literary wonderland [that] recalls Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker series [and] the works of Lewis Carroll.”—USA Today
Meet Thursday Next, “part Bridget Jones, part Nancy Drew, and part Dirty Harry” (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times), a literary detective without equal, fear, or boyfriend—and welcome to a surreal version of Great Britain, circa 1985, where time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wadsworth poem, militant Baconians heckle performances of Hamlet, and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday, renowned Special Operative in literary detection, until someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature.
When Jane Eyre is plucked from the pages of Brontë’s novel, Thursday must track down the villain and enter a novel herself to avert a heinous act of literary homicide.
Don’t miss any of Jasper Fforde’s delightfully entertaining Thursday Next novels:
THE EYRE AFFAIR • LOST IN A GOOD BOOK • THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS • SOMETHING ROTTEN • FIRST AMONG SEQUELS • ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING • THE WOMAN WHO DIED A LOT
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Readers say *The Eyre Affair* is a witty, imaginative blend of mystery, fantasy, and literary homage, featuring a smart, resourceful heroine in a quir...
This novel is so cool. I love how Fforde blends a new narrative into classic works of fiction. I will say right upfront -- this book is for lovers of literature! If you are not "well read" in the classics, some of the humor may fall flat. This is not arrogance of classics readers, to each their own, but a true account of how the novel works.
Thursday Next is a brilliant protagonist, smart, resourceful, and filled with an irreverent sense of humor. She is a refreshing and strong female lead, capable of holding her own in a world filled with eccentric characters and literary puzzles. Fforde's secondary characters are equally well-developed, each with their quirks and distinct personalities that add layers of intrigue and amusement to the story.
The overall idea of the book combines elements of mystery and fantasy with an intricate plot with various subplots, literary allusions (again, why having read a lot of Victorian literature matters), and unexpected twists, creating a unique story that keeps readers guessing. While the story can feel a bit convoluted at times, the sheer creativity and boundless imagination of the author make up for any minor flaws. You must suspend some reality for this one...a lot of reality. But that's what makes is so fun!
I highly recommend this to those wanting to explore a new face of the "old" literary world. It's entertaining from the first scene until the last line and I look forward to reading the rest of the series!
1 The Eyre Affair (2001)
2 Lost in a Good Book (2002)
3 The Well of Lost Plots (2002)
4 Something Rotten (2003)
5 First Among Sequels (2007)
6 One of Our Thursdays Is Missing (2011)
7 The Woman Who Died A Lot (2012)
Thursday Next is a brilliant protagonist, smart, resourceful, and filled with an irreverent sense of humor. She is a refreshing and strong female lead, capable of holding her own in a world filled with eccentric characters and literary puzzles. Fforde's secondary characters are equally well-developed, each with their quirks and distinct personalities that add layers of intrigue and amusement to the story.
The overall idea of the book combines elements of mystery and fantasy with an intricate plot with various subplots, literary allusions (again, why having read a lot of Victorian literature matters), and unexpected twists, creating a unique story that keeps readers guessing. While the story can feel a bit convoluted at times, the sheer creativity and boundless imagination of the author make up for any minor flaws. You must suspend some reality for this one...a lot of reality. But that's what makes is so fun!
I highly recommend this to those wanting to explore a new face of the "old" literary world. It's entertaining from the first scene until the last line and I look forward to reading the rest of the series!
1 The Eyre Affair (2001)
2 Lost in a Good Book (2002)
3 The Well of Lost Plots (2002)
4 Something Rotten (2003)
5 First Among Sequels (2007)
6 One of Our Thursdays Is Missing (2011)
7 The Woman Who Died A Lot (2012)
Definitely a good read for a literary nerd. Despite my low-ish rating, I will likely read the next book in the series.
I really wanted to like this book. Literary detectives, a mysterious answer to the great Shakespeare authorship debate, prose portals that take you into the worlds of specific novels, a real live Rochester, bookworms that feed on unnecessary prepositions... what's not to love?
But ultimately the story was too convoluted, with too many different threads and angles and storylines for the overall effect to be satisfying. The book is trying to be too many things, and in particular too many genres, and ends up being all of them in only a so-so way, instead of one of them in a brilliant way. It was also way too long for the type of story it is.
I had already put the next book in the series on my to-read queue, but now I'm not so sure I'll read it. I'll give this one a while to knock around my mind and see how much of it sticks with me. The author is quite inventive, and that alone may make me willing to try another one. But I doubt it'll live up to what I had imagined the series would be like before I read the first book.
But ultimately the story was too convoluted, with too many different threads and angles and storylines for the overall effect to be satisfying. The book is trying to be too many things, and in particular too many genres, and ends up being all of them in only a so-so way, instead of one of them in a brilliant way. It was also way too long for the type of story it is.
I had already put the next book in the series on my to-read queue, but now I'm not so sure I'll read it. I'll give this one a while to knock around my mind and see how much of it sticks with me. The author is quite inventive, and that alone may make me willing to try another one. But I doubt it'll live up to what I had imagined the series would be like before I read the first book.
Struggled through this, book was a little dry, straight forward writing, just couldn't hold my interest. The end (last 100 pages or so) made the book worthy of a 4 star rating. Those pages I thoroughly enjoyed!
This is sort of like the Veronica Speedwell mysteries mixed with Monty Python? It's mysterious, adventurous, and feels very British. There are constantly humorous things happening in the background of scenes, but the characters are all quite nonchalant about them. It's almost like an alternate universe where there are some elements of sci-fi (technology that seems like magic) and society cares very much about literature and classic writing more than almost anything else. I do enjoy British comedy, so that element worked very well for me. I also enjoy mystery series led by a capable heroine, so another box ticked there. I might like Thursday better than Veronica. The narrator for the audiobook was perfect for the part, and I think helped the humor land even better. I think the main things keeping me from rating the book higher are that I would have liked to have felt more depth with the characters and there were some "problematic" passages (which are a product of the time this book was published.)
Content Warnings:
Graphic: Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Death
Moderate: War, Violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Ableism
Content Warnings:
Graphic: Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Death
Moderate: War, Violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Ableism
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