Product Description

She doesn't really know who she is or what she wants...

Corinna is a Folk Keeper. Her job is to keep the mysterious Folk who live beneath the ground at bay. But Corinna has a secret that even she doesn't fully comprehend, until she agrees to serve as Folk Keeper at Marblehaugh Park, a wealthy family's seaside manor. There her hidden powers burst into full force, and Corinna's life changes forever...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #326825 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Amazon.com Review
She is never cold, she always knows exactly what time it is, and her hair grows two inches while she sleeps. Fifteen-year-old Corinna Stonewall--the only Folk Keeper in the city of Rhysbridge--sits hour after hour with the Folk in the dark, chilly cellar, "drawing off their anger as a lightning rod draws off lightning." The Folk are the fierce, wet-mouthed, cave-dwelling gremlins who sour milk, rot cabbage, and make farm animals sick. Still, they are no match for the steely, hard-hearted, vengeful orphan Corinna who prides herself in her job of feeding, distracting, and otherwise pacifying these furious, ravenous creatures. The Folk Keeper has power and independence, and that's the way she likes it.

One day, Corinna is summoned by Lord Merton to come to the vast seaside estate Cliffsend as Folk Keeper and family member--for she is the once-abandoned child he has been looking for. It is at Cliffsend that Corinna learns where her unusual powers come from, why she is drawn to the sea, and finally, what it means to be comfortable in her own skin. Written in the form of a journal, The Folk Keeper is a powerful story of a proud, ferociously self-reliant girl who breaks out of her dark, cold, narrow world into one of joy, understanding, and even the magic of romance. Franny Billingsley, author of the critically acclaimed fantasy Well Wished, has created a vividly portrayed, deliciously frightening novel that will have readers glued to the pages until the very un-bitter end. (Ages 10 and older) --Karin Snelson

From Publishers Weekly
In our Best Books of 2001 citation, PW wrote, "Billingsley draws on storytelling traditions yet invents a thoroughly original subterranean world inhabited by menacing creatures called Folk. Hang on for a hair-raising ride." Ages 10-14.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-Corinna, 14, knows that she is unusual-her silver hair grows two inches a night; her skin is translucent; and she has an amazing way with the Folk, dangerous beings who live beneath the ground. A foundling, Corinna disguises herself as a boy, renames herself Corin, and works as a Folk Keeper for the Rhysbridge Foundling home, until a great Lord and Lady arrive looking for Corinna but leaving with the close-enough Corin. The girl doesn't understand why she has been invited to live in a great Manor House, but insists on remaining a Folk Keeper instead of becoming a "gentleman." Life at the Manor brings complications: a budding friendship with the young heir and an attempt on her life by a greedy relative. Eventually, she learns that she is much more unusual than she had thought-she is half-Sealfolk, and so must belong always to the sea. Corinna's conviction that she is special and different is one with which many young people will identify. She is arrogant with the certainty that she knows how the world is and what she wants from it; when presented with new possibilities, she reels but is flexible enough to accept them. Written in diary form, this tale takes place in a mythical England of an earlier time, when humans and magical beings lived side by side, not always amicably. Readers who relish a rich fantasy will devour this coming-of-age story.
Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Dark, poetical story with strong characters!! A great read!
The Folk Keeper Submitted 6/15/01

Corinna Stonewall is a Folk Keeper. That is, in the strange and beautiful world of Ms. Billingsley's book, it is her job to lurk in the dark, cavernous underground Cellar distracting and pacifying the hideous Folk, creatures described by another Keeper as "mostly wet mouth and teeth." The Folk are constantly angry and ravenous-- never a good combination-- and they have the power to ruin crops, spoil milk, rot eggs and meat and cause animals to sicken and die. Any estate or village, therefore, desperately needs their Folk Keeper, and Corinna knows this well. Whereas anywhere else in the village she would merely be a slave or laborer, as Folk Keeper she has power and she knows it: "here in the Cellar, I control the Folk. Here, I'm queen of the world."

Perhaps like all queens, Corinna has secrets, not the least of which is that she is pretending to be a boy, for no female can be Folk Keeper. As Corin the Keeper of the Folk, she can spend long hours away from people, which allows her to keep her other secrets well hidden. Secrets like how she is never cold, how she always knows the exact time, as if a clock were running through her veins, and how her hair grows two inches every night as she sleeps.

Some of these secrets are threatened when old, dying Lord Merton comes to her, and fetches her away to his vast estate where the lure of the sea and the power of controlling a great many more Folk tempts Corinna to leave her small village. Once there, Corinna must contend with Folk that are far more fierce than those she's used to, a young man named Finian whom she forms a fast but tenuous friendship, and the enigmatic, possibly dangerous Sir Edward, who may be more than he appears.

Told in the form of a diary, the reader follows Corinna through her early stages of a Folk Keeper and how she managed to hide her secrets, to the surprising end where she discovers her true heritage and everything falls into place. Corinna's language is poetic and beautiful, describing everything around her in languid eloquence. Describing a party she attends on Midsummer's Eve, she writes in her journal: "A footman handed me a glass. Tiny lines of bubbles streamed through the pale liquid. The fiddle cried out in a language that everyone but I understood. Like pieces of a kaleidoscope, the ladies and gentlemen fell into patterns of color on the Ballroom floor."

Ms. Billingsley is the author of "Well Wished", a title that won Best Book of the Year by School Library Journal. In "The Folk Keeper", her second work, she has created a beautiful world and fine character in Corinna, one who is immediately likeable in spite of her rough exterior-- perhaps even BECAUSE of it. As female characters go, Corinna is brave and inventive despite all of her stubbornness. She is a strong character in an age where too many female leads are still portrayed as helpless shrinking violets.

As noted, the writing style of "Folk Keeper" is somewhere between prose and poetry--what a friend of mine calls "High English" of the almost Shakespearian sort. Because very few people speak in High English (especially teens & young adults for whom this book is geared toward), some readers-- especially those who are still not masterful at reading yet-- may miss out on the subtleties of the text or become confused. Still, it is a brilliant work and highly recommended.

For those students or readers who find the eloquence of the book difficult, it is available in an unabridged audio format with a masterful performance by Ms. Marian Tomas Griffin. I am a reading teacher and use both audio and text with my upper-grade students when we read this book. Both formats come highly recommended!!

A Significant Juvenile Fantasy Novel of the Decade!
Surely one of the most significant juvenile fantasy novels of the decade, THE FOLK KEEPER is a brilliant novel woven of intricate plot, masterful characterization, and deliciously poetic language. The compelling story of Corinna, a folk keeper who earns her place in society by tending the dangerous and ravenous folk of the underworld, is told in diary format, a device that heightens the immediacy of her search for self as she uncovers her true nature.

This is an essential purchase and a must read!

What a fabulous read!
I was completely absorbed in Corinna's terrifying adventures as "folk keeper" and in figuring out the mystery of her background. What an unusual heroine! What a great setting! What an intriguing premise! What an astounding PLOT! I don't want to spoil the twists and turns for you, but trust me: this book is a flat-out great read.