I discovered the Thursday Next series 6 years ago, on a business trip to London. Browsing through my favorite bookshop on Picadilly, I came across this Welsh author and the book looked worth reading on the long flight home. Before they served lunch on the flight, I was hooked! The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde is the first novel in a very clever series, and is one of my all-time favorite reads. The heroine, Thursday Next (a clever allusion right there that sets the tone for the book) is a Literary Detective lives in a world where book characters are alive, and any changes to an original manuscript can forever change all copies in existence. Someone kidnaps Jane Eyre, and one of the best beloved classics changes as a result. Thursday is assigned to track down the villain and has to go into the pages of the novel itself to try to restore….. well, I’m not going to give it away. Every page is filled with literary allusions, clever wordplay, and beloved characters as they really are. Did you know that Miss Haversham of Great Expectations wore tennis shoes under her wedding gown? Well, how else would she be able to do her secret work in between her stints in Dickens’ novel? And how many antagonists go by the name of Jack Schitt? Be sure to say out loud every character name in the story - there are allusions in each one that is fun to discover.
I have read and reread this series of 5 Thursday Next novels many times - they never fail to bring a smile, and they make the hours, miles, and turbulence go much faster and easier to bear. Enjoy the read - and the allusions!
Colleen Pizarev is the Vice President for International Distribution for PR Newswire. She spends a lot of time reading on international flights.
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