Jasper Fforde
Created | Updated Aug 12, 2003
"I was born on a Thursday, hence the name. My brother was born on a Monday and they called him Anton - go figure. My mother was called Wednesday but was born on a Sunday - I don't know why...."
Jasper Fforde's brilliant novels, The Eyre Affair and Lost In A Good Book follow the adventures of Literary Detective, Thursday Next. They are set in an alternative 1985 where aeroplanes haven't been invented and people travel around either by airship or Gravitube, dodos have been brought back from extinction and are kept as pets, the Crimean War lasted 131 years and literature is popular culture. Thursday's main jobs are dealing with illegal traders of books and manuscripts, copyright infringement and fraud.
Of course that wouldn't exactly make for an entire novel of exciting reading, and sure enough she soon gets involved with trying to capture the third most wanted man in the world. He has stolen the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzelwit and is threatening to use it to change the outcome of every copy of Martin Chuzzelwit ever published.
He plans to do this by means of an invention created by Thursday's uncle, Mycroft. The bit where Mycroft takes Thursday into his workshop and shows her his latest inventions is very like that bit in every Bond film where Q shows Bond what he has invented recently. Mycroft's latest contraptions include a car that can change colour with the turn of a dial, carbon paper that can translate what you write into a different language, an olfactroscope that can identify someone by their smell and a Retinal Screen-Saver - close your eyes and you can transform your surroundings into any number of soothing images.
The great thing about these books is they are based on reality, but with a twist. So you never quite know what's going to happen. The humour is slightly Douglas Adams-esque, which is always good. The funniest things are the names. For example, Thursday's ex is called Landen Parke-Laine and her co-worker is called Paige Turner. There is a famous croquet player called Aubrey Jambe and a Professor called Dr Runcible Spoon. In fact she meets a man who introduces himself as John Smith. "Unusual name," she replies.
If you ever wondered how Jane Eyre came to have the ending it does, how bananas got their name or how life on Earth began, then these books are for you! To find out more, visit Jasper Fforde's website at www.thursdaynext.com
Jasper Fforde's brilliant novels, The Eyre Affair and Lost In A Good Book follow the adventures of Literary Detective, Thursday Next. They are set in an alternative 1985 where aeroplanes haven't been invented and people travel around either by airship or Gravitube, dodos have been brought back from extinction and are kept as pets, the Crimean War lasted 131 years and literature is popular culture. Thursday's main jobs are dealing with illegal traders of books and manuscripts, copyright infringement and fraud.
Of course that wouldn't exactly make for an entire novel of exciting reading, and sure enough she soon gets involved with trying to capture the third most wanted man in the world. He has stolen the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzelwit and is threatening to use it to change the outcome of every copy of Martin Chuzzelwit ever published.
He plans to do this by means of an invention created by Thursday's uncle, Mycroft. The bit where Mycroft takes Thursday into his workshop and shows her his latest inventions is very like that bit in every Bond film where Q shows Bond what he has invented recently. Mycroft's latest contraptions include a car that can change colour with the turn of a dial, carbon paper that can translate what you write into a different language, an olfactroscope that can identify someone by their smell and a Retinal Screen-Saver - close your eyes and you can transform your surroundings into any number of soothing images.
The great thing about these books is they are based on reality, but with a twist. So you never quite know what's going to happen. The humour is slightly Douglas Adams-esque, which is always good. The funniest things are the names. For example, Thursday's ex is called Landen Parke-Laine and her co-worker is called Paige Turner. There is a famous croquet player called Aubrey Jambe and a Professor called Dr Runcible Spoon. In fact she meets a man who introduces himself as John Smith. "Unusual name," she replies.
If you ever wondered how Jane Eyre came to have the ending it does, how bananas got their name or how life on Earth began, then these books are for you! To find out more, visit Jasper Fforde's website at www.thursdaynext.com
