Cover of The Well of Lost Plots

The Well of Lost Plots

Thursday Next seriesbook 3 of 8Next:Something Rotten(2004) →

In this delicious sequel to The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book, Fforde's redoubtable heroine Thursday Next once again does battle with philistine bibliophobes.

Read more

The eagerly anticipated third installment in the bestselling Thursday Next series—a genre-bending blend of crime fiction, fantasy, and top-drawer literary entertainment

Thursday Next definitely needs some down time. After two rollicking New York Times bestselling adventures through the Western literary canon, Britain's Prose-Op is literally and literaturally at her wits' end—not to mention pregnant. Her job as Miss Havisham's apprentice at Jurisfiction is as hectic as ever—and not just because she has to moderate rage counseling sessions in Wuthering Heights. So what could be more welcome than a restful stint in the Character Exchange Program down in the hidden depths of the Well of Lost Plots?

She's supposed to relax while filling in for a sidekick in an unpublished (and unpublishable) detective procedural socked away below the Great Library in the Well of Lost Plots. But a vacation remains elusive. In no time, Thursday discovers that the Well of Lost Plots is a veritable linguistic free-for-all where grammasites run rampant, plot devices are hawked on the black market, and lousy books (like the one she has taken up residence in) are scrapped for salvage. To top it off, a murderer is stalking Jurisfiction personnel and nobody is safe, least of all Thursday herself.

Fforde has done it again in this absolutely brilliant feat of literary showmanship. When it comes to sheer wit, literate fantasy, and effervescent originality, nobody can touch this new tour de Fforde.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 388 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked The Well of Lost Plots? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked The Well of Lost Plots. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Nostradamus Ate My Hamster Shares humor, fantasy, science fiction
  2. The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse Shares fantasy, humor, fiction
  3. Legendarium Shares fantasy, science fiction, humor
  4. Slaves of the Volcano God Shares fantasy, humor, science fiction

“People who read The Well of Lost Plots tend to reach for these next.”

  1. The Unbearable Lightness Of Being In Aberystwyth
  2. Witches Abroad
  3. To Say Nothing of the Dog
  4. Whispers Under Ground

“If you want more of the same (fantasy about alternate history), start with these.”

  1. Never the Bride
  2. You Are Dead.
  3. Hell's Belles!
  4. Conjugal Rites

“If it was the humor that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies
  2. When It's A Jar
  3. Bride of the Slime Monster
  4. Mercury Rises

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. The Fire Inside
  2. Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction
  3. Blood Lines
  4. Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish