The Well of Lost Plots - Hardcover

Fforde, Jasper

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670032891 ISBN 13: 9780670032891

Publisher: Viking Pr, 2004

Synopsis

Exhausted by her hectic stint as Miss Havisham's apprentice at Jurisfiction, Thursday Next, a Special Operative in literary detection, is delighted by a supposed respite in the Character Exchange Program in the Well of Lost Plots, a place filled with linguistic chaos, lousy books, plot devices, grammasites, and a murderer. 60,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

Word-of-mouth among readers often does more to make an author's name than any publicity campaign. That's certainly the case with Jasper Fforde, and The Well of Lost Plots will be eagerly devoured by his ever-growing coterie of admirers. Fforde writes playful and exhilarating books (which make delightful sport with the very art of fiction itself), and the experience his work offers the reader is quite unique. It's little wonder he has virtually created his own market. As in Lost in a Good Book and The Eyre Affair, this new novel is as much about itself and the whole world of books as it is about its putative plot. But a plot is needed so that Fforde can sustain his amazing inventiveness, and the narrative is kicked into action with the return of literary detective Thursday Next.

It's almost impossible to summarise the amazing adventures in which the beguiling (and confused) Ms Next becomes involved, but after she leaves Swindon (and her life inside an unpublished book called Caversham Heights), she becomes involved in the inauguration of a golden age of fictional narrative. But this turns out to be a very dangerous experience, and she finds herself having strange encounters with Dickens' Miss Havisham (even more eccentric than she was in Great Expectations) and enduring an unsettling journey into the world of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. But who is the villain laying waste to her memories? And will she come to terms with the fact that her husband Landen exists only in her mind?

As this synopsis indicates, The Well of Lost Plots is a truly unique jeu d'esprit. It helps to be familiar with many of the books being riffed on here, but even if you're not, this will be one of the most idiosyncratic and often hilarious experiences you will find a within the pages of a book. Jasper Fforde enthusiasts know that already. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

Jasper Fforde has gone where no other fictioneer has gone before. Millions of readers now follow ... Thank you, Jasper (John Sutherland, Guardian)

A born wordsmith of effervescent imagination (Christina Hardyment, Independent)

[Fforde's] brand of inspired lunacy truly stands on its own ... this new book completes his creation of a world of true literary comic genius (Sunday Express on The Well of Lost Plots)

The third of this cult series sees Jasper Fforde hitting his stride ... should be a joy to anyone who loves reading (Time Out on The Well of Lost Plots)

An immensely enjoyable, almost compulsive experience (New York Times on Lost in a Good Book)

Douglas Adams would be proud (Scotsman on Lost in a Good Book)

Don't ask, just read it. Fforde is a true original (Sunday Express on Lost in a Good Book)

This year's grown-up JK Rowling (Sunday Times)

The Eyre Affair is a silly book for smart people; postmodernism played as raw, howling farce (Independent)

It is always a privilege to watch the birth of a cult, and Hodder has just cut the umbilical cord ... There are shades of Douglas Adams, Lewis Carroll, 'Clockwork Orange' and '1984'. And that's just for starters (Time Out, on 'The Eyre Affair')

Ingenious - I'll watch Jasper Fforde nervously (Terry Pratchett on The Eyre Affair)

This year's grown-up JK Rowling (Sunday Times on Lost in a Good Book)

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking Pr
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0670032891
• ISBN 13: 9780670032891
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384