The Well of Lost Plots (Thursday Next 3) [Hardcover]

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in which the beguiling (and confused) Ms Next becomes involved, but after she leaves Swindon (and her life inside an unpublished book called Caversham Heights), she becomes involved in the inauguration of a golden age of fictional narrative.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

'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 )

'A book this self-conciously clever has no right being so much damned fun' (SFX, 5* review, 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 on Lost in A Good Book )

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

‘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' )

'Don't ask. Just read it. Fforde is a true original'

'The Eyre Affair' is a silly book for smart people: postmodernism played as raw, howling farce'

'Douglas Adams would be proud'

‘The Eyre Affair is a silly book for smart people; postmodernism played as raw, howling farce'

‘An immensely enjoyable, almost compulsive experience'

'Don't ask, just read it. Fforde is a true original'

'Jasper Fforde has gone where no other fictioneer has gone before. Millions of readers now follow ... Thank you, Jasper'

'Ingenious - I'll watch Jasper Fforde nervously'

'A book this self-conciously clever has no right being so much damned fun'

Leaving Swindon behind her to hide out in the Well of Lost Plots (the place where all fiction is created), Thursday Next, Literary Detective and soon-to-be one parent family, ponders her next move from within an unpublished book of dubious merit entitled 'Caversham Heights'. Landen, her husband, is still eradicated, Aornis Hades is meddling with Thursday’s memory, and Miss Havisham - when not sewing up plot-holes in 'Mill on the Floss' - is trying to break the land-speed record on the A409. But something is rotten in the state of Jurisfiction. Perkins is ‘accidentally’ eaten by the minotaur, and Snell succumbs to the Mispeling Vyrus. As a shadow looms over popular fiction, Thursday must keep her wits about her and discover not only what is going on, but also who she can trust to tell about it ...

With grammasites, holesmiths, trainee characters, pagerunners, baby dodos and an adopted home scheduled for demolition, 'The Well of Lost Plots' is at once an addictively exciting adventure and an insight into how books are made, who makes them - and why there is no singular for 'scampi'.

In the words of one critic: 'Don't ask. Just read it.' (20030719)

Jasper Fforde traded a varied career in the film industry for staring out of the window and sucking the end of a pencil. He lives and works in Wales and has a passion for aviation. 'The Well of Lost Plots' is his third novel. (20030719)