The Eyre Affair: Summary and book reviews of The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, plus links to an excerpt from The Eyre Affair and a biography of Jasper Fforde.
The Eyre Affair
by Jasper Fforde
Hardcover: Jan 2002,
384 pages.
Paperback: Feb 2003,
384 pages.
Great Britain circa 1985: time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. Baconians are trying to convince the world that Francis Bacon really wrote Shakespeare, there are riots between the Surrealists and Impressionists, and thousands of men are named John Milton, an homage to the real Milton and a very confusing situation for the police. Amidst all this, Acheron Hades, Third Most Wanted Man In the World, steals the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and kills a minor character, who then disappears from every volume of the novel ever printed! But that's just a prelude . . .
Hades' real target is the beloved Jane Eyre, and it's not long before he plucks her from the pages of Bronte's novel. Enter Thursday Next. She's the Special Operative's renowned literary detective, and she drives a Porsche. With the help of her uncle Mycroft's Prose Portal, Thursday enters the novel to rescue Jane Eyre from this heinous act of literary homicide. It's tricky business, all these interlopers running about Thornfield, and deceptions run rampant as their paths cross with Jane, Rochester, and Miss Fairfax. Can Thursday save Jane Eyre and Bronte's masterpiece? And what of the Crimean War? Will it ever end? And what about those annoying black holes that pop up now and again, sucking things into time-space voids . . .
Suspenseful and outlandish, absorbing and fun, The Eyre Affair is a caper unlike any other and an introduction to the imagination of a most distinctive writer and his singular fictional universe.
BOOK REVIEWS
Media Reviews
Library Journal
So unusual you've got to read it to believe it; and please do, trumpets London's Bookseller. Unusual, indeed; in Fforde's debut, set in 1985 in an alternate London, literature is (refreshingly) so important that you can get punished for forging Byronic verses. Then someone starts kidnapping literary characters Jane Eyre's disappearance is particularly traumatic and Special Operative Thursday Next must stop this before it's too late.
Publishers Weekly
Surreal and hilariously funny, this alternate history, the debut novel of British author Fforde, will appeal to lovers of zany genre work (think Douglas Adams) and lovers of classic literature alike.... Witty and clever, this literate romp heralds a fun new series set in a wonderfully original world.
Barnes & Noble Review
Umberto Eco meets Harry Potter...Fforde's first fiction foray will delight a broad spectrum of intrepid readers, including aficionados of science fiction, history, British humor, and classic literature alike.
The New York Times - Michiko Kakutani
Thursday is part Bridget Jones, part Nancy Drew and part Dirty Harry. Genuinely clever invention. Mr. Fforde has...found his own exuberant voice.
The Wall Street Journal - Tom Nolan
Combines elements of Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but its quirky charm is all its own.
Turkshead Review
Jasper Fforde's first novel spins a gnarly, surreal yarn.... This is the world of camp, having more in common with shows like the Avengers, HitchHiker's Guide, Batman, even Austin Powers than the stodgy literary world of Austen and Charlotte Bronte.... A playful, jangling funhouse ride for the literary geek in all of us.
The Harrow The Eyre Affair is a wonderfully absurd fantasy about time travel and a 1985 alternate Earth...
London Times
If you have read any of the classics of English Literature, you will feel strangely at home in the action-packed alternative universe of Thursday next.... Hectic, humorous ... and most satisfying.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Cloggie Downunder just wonderful The Eyre Affair is the first novel by Jasper Fforde, and the first in the Thursday Next series. Thursday Next is a SpecOps 27 operative, a LiteraTec, who deals in crimes against literature. The novel is set in 1985, when England has been at war... Read More
Rated of 5
by Melissa
I really enjoyed this book. I originally read "The Eyre Affair" because I am a fan of "Jane Eyre." Honestly, after reading the short summary on the back of the book, I thought it would be a bit too silly. After reading the... Read More
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The New York Times - Michiko Kakutani
of 5
by Cloggie Downunder
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