LOST IN A GOOD BOOK

As in THE EYRE AFFAIR, Jasper Fforde's second satire is set in an alternate 1980s Britain. Computers haven't been invented, but time-travel and slipping into works of literature are run-of-the-mill, and male chauvinists have been cloned out of existence. SpecOps LiteraryDetective Thursday Next must restore her husband who has been "eradicated" by an enemy multinational corporation and save the planet from devolving into pink ooze. Elizabeth Sastre's performance is top-notch. Her characterization of Thursday is plucky, high-spirited, and ready for all challenges. When Thursday enters the works of Kafka, Poe, Beatrix Potter, and Lewis Carroll, Sastre is as believable portraying Flopsy Bunny as she is delivering Fforde's wicked double entendres. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 03]