A bookbinder's voice pulls villains out of stories—and his daughter must read them back.
Who drives the story
Mo's twelve-year-old daughter, who discovers she has inherited his dangerous voice. Hunted by Capricorn as the key to summoning the Shadow, she ends up reading villains to ashes and families back together.
A bookbinder whose read-aloud voice pulls characters out of books—at the cost of sending someone else in. His one careless reading cost his wife and armed his enemies; he spends the book trying to undo it.
A scarred fire-eater pulled out of Inkheart, desperate to be read back into it. When he learns his story ends in a fiery death, his longing for home collides with the fate his own author gave him.
The villain of Inkheart, read into the real world, where he builds a replica of his fortress and enslaves a village. He wants the Shadow read out to make himself invincible—and dies as ashes in a monster's mouth.
Capricorn's knife-wielding henchman who raids Elinor's house and drags Meggie from Fenoglio's. He vanishes back into the book along with the rest of Capricorn's men.
Meggie's wealthy great-aunt, a book collector whose house is stacked floor to ceiling with books. Kidnapped alongside the family, she learns her beloved books can be doors as well as treasures.
The old author of Inkheart, astonished and delighted to meet his own creations. He tells Dustfinger the truth of his written death, then rewrites the ending to give Meggie the words that destroy Capricorn—before choosing to live inside his own book.
Meggie's mother, traded into the book when Mo read three characters out. She survives in Capricorn's village as a mute servant until Meggie's final reading restores her voice after nine years.
A young boy read out of the Arabian Nights with a treasure chest, once one of the forty thieves. He learns fire from Dustfinger, saves Gwin from a written death, and chooses to stay in the real world with Meggie's family.
Dustfinger's horned marten, whose rescue from a fire is the exact scene Dustfinger dies in—until Farid hides him in his bag and rewrites that fate.
A terrifying monster made of ashes, summoned from Inkheart to serve Capricorn. It devours its master, then is read back into the story with the other strays.
Also in the story
A small dog from The Wizard of Oz, accidentally read into the world by Meggie—living proof she has her father's gift.
How they are connected
Hunted by Capricorn as the key to summoning the Shadow, she ends up reading villains to ashes and families back together.
Hunted by Capricorn as the key to summoning the Shadow, she ends up reading villains to ashes and families back together.
He wants the Shadow read out to make himself invincible—and dies as ashes in a monster's mouth.
Capricorn's knife-wielding henchman who raids Elinor's house and drags Meggie from Fenoglio's.
Capricorn's knife-wielding henchman who raids Elinor's house and drags Meggie from Fenoglio's.
Capricorn's knife-wielding henchman who raids Elinor's house and drags Meggie from Fenoglio's.
Capricorn's knife-wielding henchman who raids Elinor's house and drags Meggie from Fenoglio's.
Meggie's wealthy great-aunt, a book collector whose house is stacked floor to ceiling with books.
He tells Dustfinger the truth of his written death, then rewrites the ending to give Meggie the words that destroy Capricorn—before choosing to live inside his own book.
He tells Dustfinger the truth of his written death, then rewrites the ending to give Meggie the words that destroy Capricorn—before choosing to live inside his own book.
He tells Dustfinger the truth of his written death, then rewrites the ending to give Meggie the words that destroy Capricorn—before choosing to live inside his own book.
Meggie's mother, traded into the book when Mo read three characters out.
Go deeper
Words as power · Every gift takes something back · Who owns a story—the teller or the told · Reading aloud as an act of love
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
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