Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2858 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk 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in which the beguiling (and confused) Ms Next becomes involved, but after she leaves Swindon (and her life inside an unpublished book called Caversham Heights), she becomes involved in the inauguration of a golden age of fictional narrative.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

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

Review
'Jasper Fforde has gone where no other fictioneer has gone before. Millions of readers now follow ... Thank you, Jasper' (John Sutherland, Guardian 20030719)

'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 )

Customer Reviews

Incredibly Imaginative
For those who are late to Jasper Fforde's books, the quick overview is that he has created a brilliantly imaginative parallel world where Wales is a communist country, the Crimean War has been in progress for over 120 years, dodos and thylacines are household pets and it is possible for people to read their way into books. To get a better feel for his world and to appreciate this book more fully, it is strongly recommended that you read THE EYRE AFFAIR and LOST IN A GOOD BOOK first.

While the first 2 books were set mainly in the real world with occasional visits into various classic novels, this one takes place almost exclusively within books and the result is a breathtaking expansion of what was already a superb creation.

Thursday Next, heroine of the first two books is hiding out from the evil Goliath Corporation, among other enemies, inside The Well of Lost Plots. To be specific, she's hiding out in a dreary crime thriller called Caversham Heights where she takes over a role of Mary in the story as part of the Character Exchange Programme. The Well of Lost Plots is where all of those books that are still being written are kept, along with a wealth of plot devices, characters both good and evil who are waiting to be used and members of Jurisfiction who rule on problems within books and who generally maintain order.

Thursday encounters various dangers while working as a Jurisfiction apprentice including a dangerous flock of grammasites, verbisoides in this instance, who attack and consume any stray verbs they could find. She also has terrible problems with a mispeling vyrus that threatens to reduce the story and it's characters to an unrecognisable shambles. But there is also a murderer in their midst and it's left to Thursday to work out who the murderer is and why the victims were killed.

This really is an incredibly imaginative and entertaining book that expands Fforde's BookWorld to unbelievable proportions. It's left me fervently hoping that there are more Thursday Next stories still to come.

A wonderfully written story and quite worth the read...
I loved Fforde's other Thursday Next series and I couldn't wait to get this one. I was so impatient that I in fact ordered it from the U.K. because I couldn't wait the extra month or so to buy it in the U.S. Let me tell you, it was quite worth the extra money, I loved this book...I finished it in four days...I couldn't put it down.
Thursday finds herself in an unpublished book in the Well of Lost Plots, hiding out from the Goliath corperation. She is also on her way to becoming a full Jurisfiction agent. If this wasn't enough already, her mind is becoming muddled because of Aornis Hades, the sister of Archeon, and is looking into a string of murders that might be related to the introduction of UltraWord. Along the way we encounter the cast of Wuthering Heights in a rage controll session, we meet up with Mr. Rochester again and many other lovable literary figures. This third in the series is just as good and just as creative as Fforde's first. I applaude Fforde's cleverness and freashness that is garunteed with his books.

Surreal but brilliant!
In the third book of amazing series Fforde takes us right into the world of books. There are camios from Stickley-Prickley and Slow-Solid, not to mention an insight into just how dangerous entering an Enid Blyton story can be. We follow Thursday Next as she becomes a qualified Jusrisfiction Operative, defends Heathcliff against the Pro-Cath terrorists and struggles to keep her memories. This book is a must read, it has car chases (Havisham and Mr. Toad), love, tears and murder. The only warning I will leave you with is that you do find youself wondering just what characters do get up to when you've closed the book...