Thursday Next

Thursday E. Next was born in 1950 and raised in Swindon, England. She is one of the three children of Colonel and Wednesday Next.

Military service[]

After college she joined the army and was shipped out to the Crimean Peninsula, joining her older brother Anton behind the front lines of the Crimean War. Thursday was attached to the Wessex Light Armored Tank division where she worked as a driver, taking officers from place to place. She eventually rose to the rank of Corporal.

Her brother introduced her to a number of his friends in the army, including an officer named Landen Parke-Laine. Landen began discreetly courting her. Their first "date" was a trip to an observation post, where Landen had especially requested her as his driver. Unfortunately for the gunner accompanying them in the scout car, the post had been overrun, and they came under fire from the Russians. The gunner was killed, but Thursday and Landen escaped without injury. They continued to see one another, taking after-dark tours of mine fields for a little private time.

Everything went awry during what became known as the Charge of the Light Armored Brigade. Landen lost a leg, and most of their brigade was wiped out. Thursday was the only one who managed to go back and rescue troops, for which she was initially arrested and later awarded a medal for bravery. During the rescue, Anton was hit by a Russian shell and died instantly. In the wake of the later investigation, Landen testified that Anton had directed the troops into the wrong valley. Anton was blamed, and Thursday swore she would never forgive Landen for implicating her dead brother.

Ten years later, when Landen was on the cusp of marrying someone else, Joffy helped Thursday to accept the truth and forgive Landen. They were married in Landen's backyard. The couple went on to have two children, Friday and Tuesday. After tangling with, and eventually capturing, Aornis Hades, Thursday was left believing that they had a third child, Jenny. In reality, Jenny does not exist.

SpecOps[]

After her discharge, Thursday joined the regular police force in Swindon, where she served for several years before being recruited into SpecOps. She joined the London division of SO-27, the Literary Detectives.

Jurisfiction[]

Thursday first discovered bookjumping when she was eight years old and Mrs Nakajima helped her into the manuscript for Jane Eyre during a visit to Haworth House.