Synopses & Reviews
The Eyre Affair is Jasper Fforde's first novel, and the debut of a fresh and delightfully original new voice.
There is another 1985, somewhere in the could-have-been, where the Crimean war still rages, dodos are regenerated in home-cloning kits and everyone is deeply disappointed by the ending of 'Jane Eyre'. In this world there are no jet-liners or computers, but there are policemen who can travel across time, a Welsh republic, a great interest in all things literary — and a woman called Thursday Next.
In this utterly original and wonderfully funny first novel, Fforde has created a fiesty, loveable heroine and a plot of such richness and ingenuity that it will take your breath away.
Review
"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." Publishers Weekly
Review
"'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." Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information. Library Journal
Review
"An unusually sure-footed first novel, this literary folly serves up a generally unique stew of fantasy, science fiction, procedural, and cozy literary mystery." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Lovers of great literature with a fondness for light genre fiction...will feel instantly at home in The Eyre Affair..." LA Times
Review
"This is a highly entertaining mystery with social satire, time travel, fantasy, science fiction, and romance thrown in to the well-written mix." School Library Journal
Review
"A combination of fantasy, comedy, science fiction, Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, Lewis Carroll, Monty Python and even Buffy the Vampire Slayer." New York Times
Review
"It's 1985 in England, at least on the calendar; the Crimean War is in its hundred-and-thirty-first year; time travel is nothing new; Japanese tourists slip in and out of Victorian novels; and the literary branch of the special police, led gamely by the beguiling Thursday Next, are pursuing Acheron Hades, who has stolen the manuscript of 'Martin Chuzzlewit' and set his sights on kidnapping the character Jane Eyre, a theft that could have disastrous consequences for Brontë lovers who like their story straight. This rambunctious caper could be taken as a warning about what might happen if society considered literature really important — like, say, energy futures or accounting." New Yorker
Review
"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." London Times
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"The Eyre Affair is too special to be abandoned when the back cover closes." The Onion
About the Author
Jasper Fforde traded a varied career in the film industry for staring out of the window and chewing the end of a pencil. He lives and works in Wales and has a passion for aviation.