The Eyre Affair
- 384
- Pages
- about 7 h
- Reading time
- Crawford Award
- NPR Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books
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Our view
“The Eyre Affair” is a playful, idea-crammed comedy for readers who love books about books. In an alternative 1985, a literary detective chases a criminal into the pages of “Jane Eyre”, and the invention rarely lets up. Those who enjoy that sort of chaos take to it; some find the plot scattered, or feel that once the novelty fades the heroine has too little charm to carry the story.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Eyre Affair is the debut novel by English author Jasper Fforde, published by Hodder and Stoughton in 2001. It takes place in an alternative 1985, where literary detective Thursday Next pursues a master criminal through the world of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre. Fforde had received 76 rejections for earlier works before being accepted by a publisher. Critical reception of this novel was generally positive, remarking on its originality.
Reading order · Thursday Next
Full order & progress →- The Eyre AffairThis book
7.87.8 / 10 - Lost in a Good Book
8.18.1 / 10 - The Well of Lost Plots
8.08.0 / 10 - Something Rotten
8.18.1 / 10 - First Among Sequels
8.08.0 / 10 - One of Our Thursdays Is Missing
8.08.0 / 10 - The Woman Who Died a Lot
8.18.1 / 10 - Dark Reading MatterDark Reading Matter–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.8 across 442 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 75% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.8 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.4 | 29 | 7% |
| Hardcover | 7.8 | 413 | 93% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Eyre Affair?
It has 384 pages — shorter than 82% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Science fiction — and a score of 7.8, the closest to this book.
