Fforde, Jasper. The Well of Lost Plots (New York: Viking, 2003) 375 p.

Jurisfiction agent Thursday Next continues to use the library in her law enforcement duties.

To understand the Well you have to have an idea of the layout of the Great Library. The library is where all published fiction is stored so it can be read by the readers in the Outland; there are twenty-six floors, one for each letter of the alphabet. The library is constructed in the layout of a cross with the four corridors radiating from the center point....

Beneath the Great Library are twenty-six floors of dingy yet industrious subbasements known as the Well of Lost Plots. This is where books are constructed, honed and polished in readiness for a place in the library above–-if they make it that far. The failure rate is high. Unpublished books outnumber published ones by an estimated eight to one. (p. 1).