Lost in a Good Book

Lost in a Good Book is the 2nd book in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. Fresh from her adventures in The Eyre Affair, Thursday Next is enjoying married life until she is informed that her husband, Landen Parke-Laine, died 38 years ago: suddenly, he only exists in her memories. This turns out to be a ploy to convince her to get Goliath operative, Jack Schitt, out of “The Raven”, where she had previously trapped him. Can her ex-ChronoGuard father help? What has Miss Havisham from Great Expectations got to do with it all? Filled with hilarious names for characters and SpecOps divisions and witty, clever dialogue, this novel also has a highly original plot. Monty Pythonesque in parts, it is reminiscent of work by the late Douglas Adams, by Sir Terry Pratchett, and by Lewis Carroll. Fforde shows us that travel ports, courts of law, art exhibitions and employment reviews are essentially the same, no matter what version of universe one inhabits. And the alternate universe Thursday is offered towards the end is a cute twist. The chapter introductions, in the form of journal extracts or parts of manuals, give the reader pertinent background information in a unique way. The ending has the reader eager to read the next instalment, The Well of Lost Plots. Don’t read this in public because you WILL laugh out loud, often.