The Eyre Affair

by Jasper Fforde
Category: "Fiction - Mystery"
Pages:384
Year of Publication:2002
Date Added:03/24/2004
Date Read:04/15/2004
Notes:A delightful first book in a proposed series set in an alternative and offbeat Britain of 1985 and featuring Literary Detective Thursday Next. England is still fighting the Crimean War with Imperialist Russia, and the prevailing culture is based on literature. When the original manuscript of Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit is stolen, it is a high crime indeed, and Next is called in to help catch the culprit. To make matters worse, her "mad as pants" but brilliant uncle has created a machine that could cause all kinds of literary mayhem. This title has a cast of complete nutters. Acheron Hades, the world's third most wanted villain, has just the right mix of evil and charm to make readers look forward to meeting the first and second most wanted. Be warned that minor passersby may come round again in this "mad tea party" of a story. The novel has the surrealism and satire of Douglas Adams, the nonsense and wordplay of Lewis Carroll, and the descriptive detail of Connie Willis. What sets Fforde's work apart, however, is its winsome heroine. This is a highly entertaining mystery with social satire, time travel, fantasy, science fiction, and romance thrown in to the well-written mix.
My Rating: 8

Reviews for The Eyre Affair

Review - Eyre Affair, The

I can't say it better than what's written in the notes. It was clever throughout and occasionally very funny. There is, unfortunately, a smattering of swear words. It would help to read Jane Eyre before you tackle this book.

Reviewed by Roger on 2004-04-15 15:32:10

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