However, this gift turns out to be somewhat of a curse Mo has unwittingly brought some sinister characters to life - such as the villain Capricorn.

Perhaps the story in the book is just the lid on a pan: It always stays the same, but underneath there's a whole world that goes on - developing and changing like our own world.' Cornelia Funke's books are celebrated around the world Image: picture-alliance/Eventpress Hoenschįunke proves herself to be a talented disciple of Michael Ende, who had also used the physical books as his connection between the imaginary and real worlds in his books.Īt the heart of Funke's story is Mortimer, known as Mo, a bookbinder with a rare gift: Mo is able to bring to life the characters he reads about in books. And the letters on the page tell us only as much as we'd see peering through a keyhole. 'Perhaps there's another much larger story behind the printed one, a story that changes just as our own world does. That keyhole, it turns out, are books themselves. These two fictive realms, however, relate to each as if they were linked through a keyhole. Much like many other fantasy novels, Cornelia Funke's books also highlight the stark contrasts between the real world in fiction and the world of the imagination.

Two years later, she published Inkspell and another two years on, Inkdeath. Published in both German and English in 2003, Inkheart was immediately so successful that Funke decided to turn it into a trilogy. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Inkheart book