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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Community Reviews
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
I am LOVING this book! I really groove on alternate history and the added charm of literature is just right. Big THANK YOU to my bro-in-law for suggesting it!
3.5 stars!
This was a very...odd book. I can't think of another way to describe it. I did enjoy the book, but it just was really unique. There's not really anything else like it. The world was original and it was a zany adventure through a classic story (Jane Eyre, obviously) with a villain with Kilgrave-like powers and the ability to jump in and out of stories. The first part was a little slow and it really took almost half the book for it to really draw me in fully, but I really liked it by the end and I'm excited to see what the sequel brings in this odd parallel literary world.
This was a very...odd book. I can't think of another way to describe it. I did enjoy the book, but it just was really unique. There's not really anything else like it. The world was original and it was a zany adventure through a classic story (Jane Eyre, obviously) with a villain with Kilgrave-like powers and the ability to jump in and out of stories. The first part was a little slow and it really took almost half the book for it to really draw me in fully, but I really liked it by the end and I'm excited to see what the sequel brings in this odd parallel literary world.
Delightful! Full of suspense, wit, quirky characters, imaginative premises and so many lovely winks at English literature. I honestly don't know whether to call this speculative fiction or fantasy. Set in 1985, but a year in which time travel exists and people value and discuss literature. Not the 1985 I remember. At all. But Russia is still trying to take over the world... Anyway our heroine, Thursday Next, researches literary crimes: forgeries, etc. until it is discovered that she is one of the few people in England able to recognize Archeron Hades, a blackhearted criminal set on domination in his own way. Along the way we meet another villain, Jack Schitt. More unlikely, yet descriptive, characters are included, along with literary allusions galore. So fun!
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