Reviews & Overviews by Rod Cameron
        

Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde Thursday Next saves the world, but loses her husband.

We first met the heroine Thursday Next in Jasper Fforde's amazing first novel The Eyre Affair. Living in an England where Dodos have been resurrected and can be kept as pets; and Mammoths migrate between the south and north of Britain. The dust has barely settled from recovering the missing climax to Jane Eyre before Thursday Next, Literary Detective literally (sorry) has to go back into literature. In addition to all life on Earth seemingly due to end in a month, she starts married life with the news that her husband drowned 38 years ago, and that no one but Thursday has any memory of him. Someone is trying to put pressure on her. Possibly the Goliath Corporation who are desperate to recover their operative Jack Schitt whom she trapped in the poem 'The Raven'. Or else, could more sinister forces be at work? With the help of Miss Haversham from 'Great Expectations', she closes narrative loopholes, gains a deeper understanding of 'The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies' and learns the truth about 'Larry the Lamb'. This is a cracking story, a very clever plot and a superbly subtle read. It is also very silly, but who cares. Sadly we have to wait until July 2003 for Book 3 - The Well of Lost Plots. If you do get withdrawal symptoms and need a fix, then have a look at the web site www.thursdaynext.com  (what else)!

Publisher: NEL Paperback  Date: 2001  Pages: 375  Price: £6.99  Format: Paperback  ISBN: 0 340 73357 8  Reviewed by: Rod Cameron Review Date: August 2002