My favorite book of all time is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I read it for the first time in the eighth grade, and have been a huge fan ever since. Romance, intrigue, heartbreak, insanity - it has it all, and is beautifully written! Who could ask for anything better?
So when I was reading a magazine back in about 2003 and found a review for a novel called The Eyre Affair, I was automatically interested. Written by Jasper Fforde, the book revolves around a "literary detective" named Thursday Next who has to fight villain Acheron Hades, who is kidnapping characters from their novels and holding them hostage. Set in a surreal 1985 England where cloned dodos serve as pets, Kennedy was never assassinated, and time travel is a career choice, heroine Thursday finds herself in a bind when her uncle's invention that lets one jump into books and the original Jane Eyre manuscript are both stolen by Hades. What would Bronte's novel be like without Jane? Can Thursday keep Hades from killing off the main character?
I had to read it. I ordered it from Amazon the next chance I had and read it as soon as it was delivered. And loved it. I think I've read it almost as many times as the original Eyre novel.
But you want to know where the Sweet Madness comes from! I'm getting to that. In Fforde's book, Hades captures Jane and brings her to the real world. Thursday intervenes, sets up a safe word with her uncle so he will know when to let here out, and attempts to return Jane. Chaos ensues, and the word has to be spoken by a Bronte character in order for her uncle to see it, so in the chapter where Jane goes back to visit Rochester you will find him saying, "What sweet madness has seized me?"
There you have it - Sweet Madness, an important phrase in both of my favorite books!
