LitRec: Jasper Fforde

A couple of years ago, I was sitting in Davis Kidd Booksellers here in Nashville staring at the person of one of my favorite authors. There was about twenty of us sitting in plastic chairs directly in front of his fold-up table and I was close enough to see his nose hairs. On his little table, there was a modest stack of his books. He wore a tired sweatshirt and janky jeans. If I saw him on the street, I would have never looked twice. That would have been my mistake.


He sat down without ceremony and just kind of grinned and gave us all a slight wave. At this point, I'm racking my brain wondering if the man was mute and I somehow missed this little piece of intel in his bio. My sister, squirming and bitching next to me, is nudging my arm giving THE LOOK. The one that says 'what the fuck are we doing here'. I shush her as only a big sis can and turned my attention to the man of my day. He takes a sip from a water bottle and says, “How many of you have been asked what my book is about and you have absolutely no answer that makes sense?”


Immediately, twenty or so hands go up in the room.


And that, my friends, is the gist of Jasper Fforde.


He is an enigmatic Englishman whose appearance gives no indication to the brilliance of mind this man houses in his head. In person, Fforde is affable and endearing, but on paper he is sharp and at times, frustrating. But it's a good kind of exasperation the reader gets from this master of wordplay – if you can catch all the puns, cleverness and wit. I normally have to read one of his books at least twice to get the full picture, and even on a tenth read I am finding new things.

His first and breakout novel is The Eyre Affair, which is also the first in his Thursday Next Series. Thursday Next is our main heroine and she is sarcastic, witty and sometimes every bit of the classic balls-to-the-wall detective she was meant to be. She exists in an alternate universe where Imperial Russia and England have been fighting a Crimean War for the greater part of the last century. The year is 1985.


Books in this world are of the utmost value – well, books AND cheese – and Thursday does her societal duty by operating as a Literary Detective in Swindon. She goes on a mad caper that involves Martin Chuzzlewit, re-engineered Dodos, a maniacal madman, her one true love – Landen Parke-Laine, a gestapo corporation called Goliath, WillSpeak machines, Prose Portals, genius Uncle Mycroft, Daddy Colonel Next who is on the run from the Chronoguard in time and the inevitable breaking of the thin veil between the land of reality and literary fiction. Her biggest claim to fame here – SPOILER – is her inevitable changing of the end of Jane Eyre (thank the gods). But that's just in the first book. In each of the follow-ups, Thursday is breaking down barriers and navigating reality, fiction and even motherhood with smashing style.


To actually spell out the tightly constructed plot is nearly impossible and as with the sequels Fforde has provided us, you just have to read them to get it.


-

In addition to his Thursday Next series, Fforde has also started a Nursery Crimes series based off of a side character from the Thursday Next novels. Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his sergeant, Mary Mary, solve Nursery Crimes of the most heinous fuckery. Whenever I need a break from Thursday, Jack is always waiting on me in his debut novel, The Big Over Easy.


Jack was there in my hand on the day I met Jasper. It was on the release of his Nursery Crime series that I was able to enjoy his company as he regaled us with the witticisms and pearls of his craft. He was humble and hilarious, and even my questionably mutant sister enjoyed his disposition. I got in the back of the meager line to have my books signed (yes, I brought every one of his I owned) and last minute, I only requested he sign two (The Eyre Affair and The Big Over Easy). I was delighted by him following us to get a cup of tea from the cafe in the bookstore and I had the opportunity to chat amicably with his loverly Brit Speak. I am guessing that Fforde would never remember this, but every time I go to open one of his works, I remember fondly the day I was able to meet one of the most intriguing modern authors I have had the pleasure to read.

---

To peruse this author's work, please visit his website at Fforde Grand Central.

---

Smellyia is an administrator for this Blog and is currently reading Fool by Christopher Moore. She is entranced by Shakespearean Fuckery atm.

---