In Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë's novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career. Fforde's ingenious fantasy-enhanced by a Web site that re-creates the world of the novel—unites intrigue with English literature in a delightfully witty mix.

Reviews

" A combination of fantasy, comedy, science fiction, Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, Lewis Carroll, Monty Python and even 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'." New York Times

"The best way to describe Jasper Fforde's debut novel The Eyre Affair is as a James Bond-style melodrama set in an alternative world which was designed by the lovers of English literature." SciFi Site

"The Eyre Affair is a wonderfully absurd fantasy about time travel and a 1985 alternate Earth that is seriously and emotionally involved with its literary classics.
Simultaneously erudite and quirky, highbrow and playful, It's a loving, offbeat homage to European literary history, but it's still accessible to readers who haven't read Jane Eyre or cracked a Shakespeare play since high school. The plot deftly addresses literary mysteries and questions, making the dessicated field of classic English literature come alive with puzzles and controversies, yet remaining lighthearted and entertaining throughout." The Harrow

"The Eyre Affair is too special to be abandoned when the back cover closes." The Onion