The Thief Lord
English book cover by in English from Chicken House Publishing, Ltd and Scholastic.
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| Author | Cornelia Funke |
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| Original title | Herr der Diebe |
| Illustrator | Christian Burmingham |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | Translated to English |
| Genre | Fantasy/adventure |
| Pages | 338 |
The Thief Lord is a children's novel written by Cornelia Funke. It was published in Germany in 2000 and translated into English by Oliver Latsch in 2002 for The Chicken House, a division of Scholastic publishing company. It was also adapted into a film in 2006.
"The Thief Lord" follows the story of brothers, Prosper and Boniface (Bo), who run away to Venice, Italy. They are taken in by a group of street children who live in an abandoned movie theater - the Stella, and are led by a proud orphan named Scipio. He appears to steal valuables and the orphan group sells them to a sly shopkeeper, Ernesto Barbarossa. A customer of Barbarossa, calling himself the Conte, asks the "Thief Lord" to steal a wooden lion's wing for him. The runaway boys' aunt and uncle figure out where they are and set a detective, Victor Getz, on their trail. Victor recognizes the boys on the street and manages to initiate a conversation with innocent little Bo. Bo accidentally lets slip that he lives in an old movie theatre. When the rest of the children see Victor, they cause a distraction and run away, taking his wallet with them. In his search for the theater, Victor visits the home of Dottor Massimo, the owner of the Stella, where he sees Scipio, who is actually the son of the rich Dottore.
When Victor arrives at the Stella, the optic clan ambushes him. When Prosper confronts Scipio, he learns that Scipio is indeed Dottor Massimo's son. While they are gone, Victor escapes, leaving a note that he will not reveal their location if they do not steal the precious lion's wing. The children leave that night to steal it from a women called Ida Spavento. Arrived in her house, the children meet Scipio, who wants to steal the wing as well. In the following argument, Ida is awakened by the racket that the children make and confronts them with an old rifle. When they explain, Ida tells them the story of the wing, which came from a magical merry-go-round. It has the ability to change a person's age. She agrees to let them have the wing if they let her accompany them to the exchange. The next night, all of the children go for the deal except Hornet and Bo. They join Ida and Scipio, meet with the Conte and his sister, Morosina, and make the exchange. They follow the Conte through a maze of islands to one in particular called Isola Segretta. They watch the pair unload the wing and go inside. Suddenly Ida drops the binoculars she was using into the lagoon. The sound travels to the island. Morosina rushes out with a shotgun and two huge dogs firing away randomly into the night. The group speeds off and regroups at the pier. When they return to the theater, Hornet and Bo are gone, leaving a note that there were police at the door. They angrily confront Victor, who informs them that he did not direct the police's attention there. To add to the misery he tells them that the lire they received are fake.
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