Jane Eyre & The Eyre Affair

One of the reasons for getting into the Worth Literary Classics books is to revisit many of the English novels of the time period that have merged in my mind into one great conglomeration of gothic manor houses, desolate moors, and moody male protagonists. On the cruise I re-read Jane Eyre so that I could then re-read Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair and understand it better.

Jane Eyre, of course, features orphaned governess Jane Eyre falling in love with the foul-tempered, mercurial Mr. Rochester only to learn to her horror that his wife, now a madwoman, is still alive and kept in the attic. There's some really nice creepy, gothic scenes in the book as Jane discovers what's really happening: in particular, waking up to discover Mr. Rochester's bed has been set on fire (with him in it) and waking up another night to see the crazed Bertha Rochester tearing apart her (Jane's) wedding veil. There's more Christian moralism in the book than I remember from my first time through, but it was still enjoyable.

The Eyre Affair is the first in a very off-beat series of books featuring a character named Thursday Next, who is a Literary Detective in an alternative 1985 where literary crimes are the subject of major criminal syndicates, the Crimean War is still going on, time-travel is problematic, and more. Someone has invented a device to change the content of books by altering the original manuscript, which leads Thursday to go into the plot of Jane Eyre in order to set things right. Having just read Jane Eyre, this one was a lot more enjoyable and I'm looking forward to the next in the series, Lost in a Good Book.