''The Well of Lost Plots'' is a novel by

Jasper Fforde Jasper Fforde (born 11 January 1961) is an English novelist, whose first novel, ''The Eyre Affair'', was published in 2001. He is known mainly for his ''Thursday Next'' novels, but has published two books in the loosely connected ''The Big Over ...

, published in 2003. It is the third book in the

Thursday Next Thursday Next is the protagonist in a series of comic fantasy, alternate history mystery novels by the British author Jasper Fforde. She was first introduced in Fforde's first published novel, ''The Eyre Affair'', released on 19 July 2001 by Hod ...

series, after ''

The Eyre Affair ''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 Charlo ...

'' and ''

Lost in a Good Book ''Lost in a Good Book'' is an alternate history fantasy novel by Jasper Fforde. It won the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association 2004 Dilys Award. It is the second in the Thursday Next series. Synopsis ''Lost in a Good Book'' is the seco ...

''.

Plot summary

Apprentice Jurisfiction agent and SpecOps-27 operative Thursday Next is taking a vacation inside ''Caversham Heights'', a never-published

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...

inside the titular Well of Lost Plots, while waiting for her child to be born. In the book, she encounters two Generics, students of St Tabularasa's who have yet to be assigned to a book, and DCI Jack Spratt, a detective who partners with her in investigating a murder. Since Thursday is an "Outlander", a "real" person rather than a fictional character, Spratt hopes that she will help them appeal to the Council of Genres to prevent the disassembling of ''Caversham Heights'', a fate inevitable for books which languish unpublished in the real world. Using a ''Caversham Heights'' as her base of operations, Thursday continues her apprenticeship with Miss Havisham from ''

Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...

''. Meanwhile,

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...

Yorrick Kaine is loose in Thursday's real world and conspiring with someone in Text Grand Central, the final arbitrators of

plot Plot or Plotting may refer to: Art, media and entertainment * Plot (narrative), the story of a piece of fiction Music * ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava * The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003 Other * ''Plot' ...

setting Setting may refer to: * A location (geography) where something is set * Set construction in theatrical scenery * Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction * Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to eng ...

, and other story elements, to release

BOOK A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

version 9, code-named UltraWord. UltraWord is touted at a Jurisfiction meeting as the greatest advance "since the invention of

movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuatio ...

" because it creates a thirty-two plot story system and allows the reader to control the story. Thursday slowly loses her memory of Landen, though Gran Next remains with her and keeps her from forgetting him completely. In doing so, she also battles Aornis Hades, the

villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

ess, who nearly converted the world to Dream Topping in ''

'', who is present in her

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

as a mindworm. Thursday learns that Harris Tweed, Kaine's partner, is masquerading as a Jurisfiction agent to get UltraWord released, which he states will "fix

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

". She investigates the details of UltraWord and makes some alarming discoveries. At the 923rd Annual BookWorld awards, Thursday demonstrates a variety of issues with UltraWord; it makes books impossible to read more than three times, thus rendering

libraries A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

and second-hand

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

s useless, and the quality of the writing is also substantively poorer. Tweed and Kaine call for a vote before the audience can be convinced by Thursday's argument. In this unprecedented emergency, Thursday uses her Jurisfiction operative TravelBook to summon The Great Panjandrum, ruler of the BookWorld and literal ''

deus ex machina ''Deus ex machina'' ( , ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; English "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function ...

''. The Panjandrum calls for an immediate vote which goes against UltraWord and calls on Thursday to take the job of Bellman, the superintendent of Jurisfiction. Thursday accepts the position. In the aftermath of the BookWorld awards, the two Generics, now calling themselves Randolph and Lola, Thursday, and her pet

dodo The dodo (''Raphus cucullatus'') is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest genetic relative was the also-extinct Rodrigues solitaire. The ...

Pickwick retire to ''Caversham Heights'', which was bought by the Council of Genres as a character sanctuary, a solution that appeals to the residents of the novel as well as the

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

characters who were going to go on strike. The story of the new ''Caversham Heights'' constitutes Fforde's fifth book, ''

The Big Over Easy ''The Big Over Easy'' is a 2005 novel written by Jasper Fforde. It features Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his assistant, Sergeant Mary Mary. It is set in an alternate reality similar to that of his previous books: ''The Eyre Affair'', ...

''. The American edition has an extra chapter at the end, documenting the weathering of a WordStorm during Thursday's tenure as Bellman.

Characters

- Jurisfiction detective and protagonist of the series. * Pickwick - Thursday's pet

. * Randolph and Lola - a pair of generic characters who Thursday assists in developing distinct identities. *

Harris Tweed Harris Tweed, (''Clò Mór'' or ''Clò Hearach'' in Gaelic) is a tweed (cloth), tweed cloth that is Weaving, handwoven by islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, finished in the Outer Hebrides, and made from pure virgin wool ...

- A Jurisfiction agent from the real world. *

The Great Panjandrum Panjandrum, also known as The Great Panjandrum, was a massive, rocket-propelled, explosive-laden cart designed by the British military during World War II. It was one of a number of highly experimental projects, including Hajile and the Hedgehog ...

- the supposed creator of the Bookworld and a literal ''

''. * Aornis Hades - a duplicate of the villain of the previous novel, ''Lost in a Good Book'', who exists inside Thursday's memories and attempts to alter them to destructive effect. * Gran Next - Thursday's grandmother, she comes to stay with her inside ''Caversham Heights'' and assist her in battling Aornis and recovering her lost memories. *

Landen Parke-Laine The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde currently consists of the novels ''The Eyre Affair'', ''Lost in a Good Book'', ''The Well of Lost Plots'', ''Something Rotten'', '' First Among Sequels'', '' One of Our Thursdays Is Missing'' and '' The Wo ...

- Thursday's husband, a noted novelist, who at the time of ''The Well of Lost Plots'' has been erased from history by the Chronoguard and exists only in her memories. * The Bellman - the head of Jurisfiction.

Reception

''The Well of Lost Plots'' was released to positive reviews. Rich Horton of The SF Site referred to it as "a fast-moving, funny, and intellectually diverting novel" and Dave Golder of ''

SFX SFX may refer to: Entertainment * Special effects (usually visual), illusions used in film, television, and entertainment * Sound effects, sounds that are artificially created or enhanced * SFX (magazine), ''SFX'' (magazine), a British magazine c ...

'' stated that "a book this self-consciously clever has no right being so much damned fun" and rated it five stars. The ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' described it as "a wildly imaginative, pun-filled bundle of literary allusions, satire, criticism and delightful silliness." Fforde won the Wodehouse prize for comic fiction in 2004 for ''The Well of Lost Plots''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Well Of Lost Plots, The Novels by Jasper Fforde 2003 British novels Thursday Next series Alternate history novels Metafictional novels 2003 fantasy novels Hodder & Stoughton books Works based on nursery rhymes de:Im Brunnen der Manuskripte