The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana

An illustrated novel is a tempting new form of contemporary literature for readers; however, Umberto Eco is truly "reinventing" old favorite books. Childhood books are always full of pictures, and these pictures illuminate a child's imagination with magical flame. This is exactly what the protagonist, antiquarian bookseller Giambattista Bodoni from Milan, needs to return to his own "self" after a serious illness and memory loss.
Magazines, comics, school essays, chants, advertisements, records, radio broadcasts. In the attic, like in a fairy tale cave, the hero rediscovers well-forgotten, vital sensations. Reminding the hero of what he has experienced, meaningful smells and sounds are revived from the magic of dusty pages. An old school notebook tells Giambattista about his old love and his own youthful heroism. Piecing himself together like a detective, Bodoni regains self-awareness and returns from the imagined and reconstructed world to reality. For how long? A new journey awaits him — the famous Italian novelist invites the reader into another clever phantasmagoria.