Amazon.com
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
Billingsley (Well Wished) imagines a fascinating subterranean world and infuses a strong feminist theme into this poetically wrought tale featuring a 15-year-old orphan. Corinna Stonewall, who earned her name for her stubbornness, is at odds with a hierarchical society filled with lords and ladies. Rather than succumb to her fate of becoming a servant girl, she reinvents herself as a boy named Corin and secures a position as "Folk Keeper." Her job is dangerous: she must protect the mainland village of Rhysbridge against the harmful pranks of the Folk, devilish underground creatures who thrive in darkness. But Corinna feels freer in her dank cellar quarters than in the outside world. Then one day, a mysterious dying man arrives who seems to see past her disguise and hires her to work at the island estate he shares with his wife, Lady Alicia. Drawing on storytelling traditions and yet creating a completely original labyrinthine underworld, the author sends Corinna on a spiritual as well as physical journey. The tale unfolds through Corinna's Folk Record, her most prized possession, which chronicles the activities of the dark-dwelling creatures. While fending off the fiercer breed of Folk threatening Lady Alicia's seaside manor, the heroine makes discoveries about her past, the special powers she possesses and her strange attraction to the sea. The plot thickens as Corinna struggles to keep her gender and special powers a secret and fights her growing feelings for a kindred spirit: Lady Alicia's son, Finian. Strong visual imagery manages both to orient readers and yet to leave them with an odd feeling of disorientation ("The walls were heavy draperies, stone folded upon stone, lustrous with damp"). In this way, Billingsley brilliantly creates a reading experience that parallels Corinna's own experience. The author's ear for language, her use of classic motifs and her stalwart heroine make this novel an evocative, unforgettable read. Ages 10-14. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Reed 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.
From Library Journal
Grade 5-8-A young orphan charged with placating the volatile Folk, believed to control her people's fate, discovers the world of the sea and begins to understand her mysterious heritage. A gripping gothic romance and selkie tale rolled into one. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New York Times Book Review, Betsy Hearne
The story of Corinna's survival sustains a lyrical narrative. There's poetry not only in the style but also in the story elements themselves.
From AudioFile
Imagine yourself a helpless orphan destined to serve others. Would you not struggle to find a position to grant you some measure of authority? Better still should it grant you profound power. So Corinna Stonewall becomes Folk Keeper of the city of Rhysbridge. As Corinna's folk record begins, and we encounter her stubborn, rapacious spirit, Griffin's narration sounds too cheerful for the vengeful words written by a girl desperately battling to keep the evil Folk at bay. Despite this inconsistency and the flawed voicing of Sir Edward, Griffin's sweet-voiced narration becomes a better match for Corinna as she evolves, struggling to learn the truth about her nature and encountering for the first time a person she can love. Despite some flaws, this winner of the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Fiction is recommended. T.B. ALA Notable Recording 2001 © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
From Booklist
The author of Well Wished (1997) draws on selkie folklore for an eerie tale of young, orphaned Corinna, who disguises herself as a boy so she can pose as a Folk Keeper. Her job is to keep at bay the ravenous Folk that live beneath the foundling home by feeding them and siphoning off their anger so they won't spoil the milk, frighten the livestock, rot the harvest, and so forth. Then she's summoned by the dying lord of a vast estate on Cliffsend, the largest of the Northern Isles, which has miles of underground caverns populated by wild, especially savage Folk. She not only is to be the Folk Keeper but is also, to her bewilderment, given a place at the family table. She's unpleasant and vengeful at first because of her hardscrabble life, but she thrives and mellows in the north, close to the sea, as she slowly learns about her heritage; for example, why the sea calls to her, why she has an internal clock, why her hair grows two inches a night, and who her parents were. She faces great danger from the fierce Folk, who are "mostly wet mouth and teeth," and is threatened by a member of the family who wants her out of the way. She also falls in love with the heir to the estate. The telling is immediate and compelling, and there is a decided sense of impending menace, especially when Corinna is trapped in the underground caves. A memorable story that unfolds largely through the entries in Corinna's Folk Record. Sally Estes
From Kirkus Reviews
From Billingsley (Well-Wished, 1997), an inventive and romantic fusion of the selkie tale with that of a nameless, hungry Folk who must be kept at bay. Corinna is crafty and sullen: she lives in the cellar of a foundling home whose dark and damp she loves, and keeps the Folk quiescent by offerings of food, and circles of iron and salt. She has made herself into a Folk Keeper by cutting off her silver hair, which grows wondrously, and passing herself off as a boy, for only boys perform this task. She has no training but she listens and learns, and when she is summoned to a great estate, she seizes the opportunity. Still in her boy's disguise, she becomes Folk Keeper at Lady Alicia's Cliffsend by the sea. With Lady Alicia's son, Finian, Corrina learns from and loves the sea, which speaks to her in new ways, but mysteries of a former Lady, a buried child, and the sinister Sir Edward cloud her understanding. Writing in a diary format, with saints' and solstice celebrations marking the movement of the Folk, Billingsley makes a rich metaphor of Corrina's rejection of food and warmth, and weaves the discovery of her magic into the unfolding of her selfhood and her true history. This will surely enthrall those who loved Berlie Doherty's Daughter of the Sea (1997). (Fiction. 10-14) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
"The author's ear for language, her use of classic motifs and her stalwart heroine makes this novel an evocative, unforgettable read." -Publishers Weekly, starred review
Book Description
"Here in the Cellar," Corinna says, "I control the Folk. Here, I'm queen of the world." As Folk Keeper at the Rhysbridge Home, she feeds the fierce, dark-dwelling cave Folk; keeps them from souring the milk, killing the chickens, and venting their anger on the neighborhood; and writes it all down in her Folk Record. Since only boys are Folk Keepers, she has disguised herself as a boy, Corin, and it is a boy and a Folk Keeper she intends to stay. Yet there comes a moment when someone else knows the truth. Old, dying Lord Merton not only knows she is a girl, but knows some of her other secrets as well. It is at his bidding that she, as Corin, leaves Rhysbridge to become Folk Keeper and a member of the family on Cliffsend, an isle where the Folk are fiercer than ever they were at Rhysbridge. It is on Cliffsend that Corinna comes face to face with herself, with the powers she does have (some quite unexpected) and those she does not have (even if she lies and says she does). Who really is she? Why does her hair grow two inches a night? Why does the sea draw her? What does she really want? And what future can and will she choose?
Download Description
This "Boston Globe/Horn Book" fiction award winner tells the story of Corinna, who disguises herself as a boy to work as a folk keeper, one who keeps the fairy folk who live underground at bay. When she is hired to work at the seaside manor of a wealthy family, Corinna comes to believe she has special powers.
Card catalog description
Orphaned Corinna disguises herself as a boy to pose as a Folk Keeper, one who keeps the Evil Folk at bay, and discovers her heritage as a seal maiden when she is taken to live with a wealthy family in their manor by the sea.
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