Review by Dainy Bernstein

Most booklovers have sometimes wished they could meet the characters they read about. But for Meggie, who gets to experience book characters coming to life, that wish becomes more of a nightmare than a dream come true. Her father, Mo, accidentally learns that he can bring characters to life when he reads aloud, but the characters that come to life when he reads aloud from Inkheart are cruel and dangerous. When Dustfinger, a fire-eater who emerged from the book, finds Mo and Meggie after nearly a decade of hiding from Capricorn, the leader of the book-bandits, and Basta, his right-hand man, the duo are catapulted into an adventure full of incomprehensible wonder and unspeakable danger. 

Inkheart, written by Cornelia Funke and translated by Anthea Bell, is the kind of book that makes you double-check the copyright date because it feels like it must have been written in the early 1900s, with its almost fairy-tale-like tone and its embrace of so much darkness in both literary characters and real-life humans. From the very first line, “Rain fell that night, a fine, whispering rain”, the atmospheric storytelling draws the reader in. Every time I sit down to re-read this book, I open to that first line, sigh, and settle in for what feels like a cozy evening by the fireside full of imagination. Never mind that I don’t actually have a fireside – this book transports me every time. 

Funke is a master at bringing characters to life, and not just literally as they come out of their own books. Through Meggie’s eyes, we come to know Mo, Meggie’s great-aunt Elinor, Capricorn, Basta, Dustfinger, Fenoglio (author of the fictional Inkheart and creator of the characters Capricorn, Basta, and Dustfinger), Farid (a young boy who appears quite by accident when Mo reads aloud from Tales from the One Thousand and One Nights), and several others. Their characters are so real and life-like that you’re sure to know them immediately if you were to meet them on the street – though you’d be better off not meeting most of them, especially Capricorn, who can coldly think of one thousand and one ways to torture people, or Basta, whose fingers are always itching to carve people’s faces with his knife. 

Amid all the danger and life-threatening situations, though, there are some truly fantastic moments of light-heartedness and of heartfelt emotion. Fenoglio’s grandchildren are hilarious, as are his ridiculous responses to their antics. Elinor, who loves books and can’t stand children at the start of the story, is a fierce woman throughout the adventure and never loses her love for books but does soften toward people in general. And throughout, Meggie’s relationships with each of the characters, especially with Mo, ground the fantastical events in emotional truth and reality. 

Funke followed Inkheart with two more Inkworld books, Inkspell (2005) and Inkdeath (2007), and a movie starring Brendan Fraser was released in 2008. The series explores themes of imagination, storytelling, belonging, home, and the human capacity both for unimaginable cruelty and breathtaking beauty. There are lots of surprising plot twists throughout to keep you on your toes, and despite its length – over 500 pages – the pacing keeps the story moving forward so that you’ll hardly notice time passing. 

Inkheart
Written by Cornelia Funke, translated by Anthea Bell
2023, Chicken House Books
ISBN: 9781912626847
Reviews: Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Guardian

Dainy Bernstein studies and writes about youth literature, particularly ultra-Orthodox Jewish children’s and teens’ literature, religion in youth literature, and fantasy. Eir favorite genres are fantasy and historical fiction, especially when they feature strong female or nonbinary leads, anti-racist narratives, and queer love and joy. Ey loves crafting and bullet journaling, long lazy walks in the park, rain and rainbows, and trying every kind of tea available. 

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GLLI’s 2024 International YA Literature Month has been curated by Dr Emily Corbett. She is a lecturer in children’s and young adult literature at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she leads the MA Children’s Literature: Theoretical Approaches to Children’s and Young Adult Literature programme. Her research focuses on the growth and development of YA from literary, publishing, and cultural perspectives. She is also General Editor of The International Journal of Young Adult Literature and was founding Vice President of the YA Studies Association. Her monograph, In Transition: Young Adult Literature and Transgender Representation (2024), is forthcoming with the University Press of Mississippi in June. You can find her contact details on her institutional website and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram via @DrEmilyCorbett.

Opinions expressed in posts on this site are the individual author’s and are not indicative of the views of Global Literature in Libraries Initiative.