Something Rotten

In the whimsical, book-obsessed alternate reality of Jasper Fforde’s England, literary detective Thursday Next finds herself back in Swindon after a challenging stint as Bellman in Jurisfiction. She’s accompanied by her son, Friday, and none other than the indecisive Prince Hamlet, whom she's rescued from the BookWorld. Her return to SpecOps is far from a peaceful homecoming. The nefarious outlaw fictioneer Yorrick Kaine is plotting a grab for absolute power, threatening the delicate balance between the real world and the literary one. To complicate matters further, Swindon's legendary patron saint has made an ominous reappearance, and within the BookWorld, Shakespeare's 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' is alarmingly intertwining with 'Hamlet,' creating a literary catastrophe. Thursday must race against time to locate a Shakespeare clone to prevent the hostile takeover of a classic play, thwart Kaine's destructive ambitions, and avert global conflict, all while juggling the ever-present, and often absurd, demands of her unique life and unreliable childcare.