The Eyre Affair, 2001
Lost in a Good Book. Viking, 2002.
Review published Mar 2007.
In order to enjoy this series, it is helpful to understand that if you had re-engineered a dodo to keep as a pet, it would say "plock plock" and love marshmallows, that a suitable job for a Neanderthal is piloting subway trains, that the Goliath Corporation is really out to rule the world. But the most important thing is to understand that the author is one of those people who loves fiction and literature so much that he knows that a reader can get lost in a book, and become literally transported into its fictional world. Any novel with Miss Haversham and the Red Queen has possibilities. The first book, The Eyre Affair, finds our heroine Thursday Next, attempting to correct the plot of Jane Eyre -- the wonderful part is that her entry into the Bronte book actually seems -- in a weird way -- logical. Add to this mix a cast of characters with outrageously punning names, time travel, amazing inventions and hairbreadth escapes, and you've got a true winner.