LoveReading Says
Best-selling author Cornelia Funke, whose Inkheart was a world-wide phenomenon, has created a wonderful imaginary world peopled with a gigantic cast of original and outlandish characters. Searching for his missing father, Jacob Reckless steps through the mirror into a strange, story-filled world in which danger is never very far away. When Jacob mistakenly allows his brother to follow him through the mirror he discovers the awesome powers he is working against and needs to use all his skill and cunning to save his brother from a horrible death as he is gradually turned to stone. Cornelia Funke’s original storytelling captures the hearts and minds of all young readers. ~ Julia Eccleshare
Julia Eccleshare M.B.E.
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Reckless I: The Petrified Flesh (Mirrorworld) Synopsis
Jacob has uncovered the doorway to another world, hidden behind a mirror. It is a place of dark magic and enchanted objects, scheming dwarves and fearsome ogres, fairies born from water and men born from stone. Here, he hunts for treasure and seeks adventure in the company of Fox - a beautiful, shape-shifting girl, who guides and guards him. But now Jacob's younger brother has followed him into the mirrored world, and all that was freedom has turned to fear. Because a deadly curse has been spoken; and Jacob must risk his life to reverse it, before his brother is turned to stone forever...Revised and updated by Cornelia Funke, The Petrified Flesh is the first book in the thrilling Reckless series.
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Cornelia Funke Press Reviews
'A haunting story of loyalty, betrayal, magic and danger' -- Nicolette Jones Sunday Times (Children's Book of the Week)
'Magical and full of surprises - find a child to read it to as an excuse, or just indulge' The Lady
About Cornelia Funke
The German author Cornelia Funke was born in 1958 in Dorsten, Westphalia. As a child she dreamed of becoming an astronaut – until she discovered the military training involved so she trained to be social worker. During her time as a social worker, Cornelia discovered the kinds of stories that grasped their imaginations. These were the stories she wanted to illustrate – and ultimately to write – the kind that would appeal to bookish children as well as inspiring those children who hadn’t yet had many positive reading experiences. At the age of 35 Cornelia realised her true love of storytelling and became a full-time writer. She has since written over 40 titles ranging from picture books and short novels for young readers
Although she quickly became one of the most popular children’s authors in Germany, Cornelia Funke was hardly known in Britain or the United States – and had it not been for a keen young reader, this could still be the case. Barry Cunningham, the publisher of a small, innovative publishing house in rural England called The Chicken House, received a letter from a bilingual (English and German) young reader, who wanted to know why her favourite author wasn’t published in English. Barry set about the task of tracking down the latest title from Cornelia Funke, Herr der Diebe.
When the English translation, The Thief Lord, was published in the USA by Scholastic in 2002, it entered the New York Times bestseller list straightaway, and proceeded to climb to the number two position.
There has been enormous interest in Cornelia’s novels, with fierce bidding by film company executives for the rights. The Thief Lord movie, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Alexei Sayle, was released in Spring 2006.
Inkheart the movie is released on 12th December 2008, has a stellar cast that includes Helen Mirren as Elinor, Jim Broadbent as Fenoglio and Paul Bettany as Dustfinger.
Cornelia Funke lives in Los Angeles in the USA with her teenage daughter, Anna, and young son, Ben (Benjy). They have a crazy dog, Luna, nicknamed Loonie, and their house is crammed with books and DVDs.
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