Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke, reviewed by Tony Bradman
...it is all familiar territory, and it's old-fashioned, almost as if it had been written in the 1950s. It's also full of coincidence and contrivance...Funke explains in an afterword that the story was inspired by a visit to Salisbury, particularly its atmospheric cathedral. Looked at in this light, the book is clearly a homage to a certain kind of literary Englishness - it can't be a coincidence that the relationship between Jon and Ella is reminiscent of that between Pip and Estella in Great Expectations. After all, the great Boz liked a good ghost story himself. Ghost Knight is also that rare beast in British children's books, a foreign novel. My German isn't good enough to tackle the original, but Oliver Latsch's translation reads well. TONY BRADMAN
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