The Eyre Affair

This was another recommendation from a friend and I can't believe I hadn't heard of this series until earlier this year!


There is another 1985, where London's criminal gangs have moved into the lucrative literary market, and Thursday Next is on the trail of the new crime waves Mr Big.
Archeron Hades has been kidnapping characters from works of fiction and holding them to ransom.  Jane Eyre is gone.  Missing.
Thursday sets out to find a way in the book to repair the damage.  But solving crimes against literature isn't easy when you also have to find time to halt the Crimean War, persuade the man you love to marry you, and figure out who really wrote Shakespeare's plays.
Perhaps today just isn't going to be Thursday's day.  Join her on a truly breathtaking adventure, and find out for yourself.  Fiction will never be the same again...


There is plenty to like about the Eyre affair: all the puns, the names, the dodos and how broad the spectrum for Thursday's world is.  Fforde has created a great female character who is completely no-nonsense and comes across as somewhat normal in a bizarre, off-kilter, version of 80's Britain.  Thursday is middle aged, of average looks, wants to progress in her career and struggles to forgive her ex-boyfriend for ratting out her brother.  There are plenty of  colourful characters introduced throughout the book, and some scenes that may be brought up later on in the series.  The Eyre affair reads like Robert Rankin at his nutty best; so much so that I kept wanting to dig out my copy of The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse.  I've got the second instalment, Lost in a Good Book, waiting in line to be read and I hope it is just as good as this fantastic introduction to the world of Thursday Next.