The Eyre Affair
Jasper Fforde
A 1985 you’ve never met
The Eyre Affair is unlike any book I've ever read. Ostensibly it takes place in 1985, but even if you're old enough to remember 1985 (I am, I was even in England, where The Eyre Affair takes place), you won't recognize this 1985. This is an England that is at war with Russia -- the Crimean War has been going on for 130 years. There is no United Kingdom. Wales is an independent nation (The People's Republic of Wales). Once extinct animals can be cloned -- Dodos are popular pets. National security is largely the province of a government organization called Special Operations. Our heroine Thursday Next (that's a name, surname Next, first name Thursday) is an SO-27 operative, a literary detective. Her father is a disgraced former SO-12 (ChronoGuard) operative, whose face can stop a clock, literally.
Above all, this is a world in which literature reigns supreme. In the world of The Eyre Affair, the theft of the original manuscript of Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit is an occasion for national panic. The Eyre Affair is a book full of apostrophe joke's. I consider myself a fairly literate person, but I had to get used to the sound of barely perceived literary allusions whizzing over my head.
People can enter a novel and commit mayhem, thereby changing the plot forever. The plot of this novel is concerned with just such an attempt to sabotage a much-loved novel -- see if you can guess... Yes, it is Jane Eyre -- you're so clever! Thursday is an admirable heroine -- somewhat on the 'too rash' side of the foolhardy/brave continuum, but also very clever.
One of the most attractive features is Jasper Fforde's very obvious love of literature and the works he lampoons. Indeed, I am much tempted to reread Jane Eyre, a book I haven't read in fifty years.
Because it is so extraordinarily original, not to mention enormous fun, I'm giving this one five stars.