The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley is a book for young adults. On the surface, it is a story about a girl, Corinna Stonewall, born at a time and in a place where being a girl is difficult, and especially so, if you are an orphan or a "Foundling". Regardless, she worked hard to find a place for herself where she belonged. Or at least she thought this was where she belonged. Until one day all of that changed for good.
At a glance, The Folk Keeper is a dark, but fairly straight forward, children's story, full of magical creatures, mystical powers, a strong female protagonist, and a sweet male lead. There is even a villain who would do anything to keep Corinna from her rightful position and inheritance. Doesn't sound very different from Cinderella, does it? But oh no, if it isn't anything but! I'm sure there are plenty of ways one can describe what this story is really about; however, I will tell you what I thought as I kept reading, not quite able to put it down until I read it all the way to the end.
In the beginning, we see Corinna as a feisty little thing who is ready to take revenge on anyone who manages to piss her off. She is quiet, but knows to hold a grudge. She also knows the ways of the World. And she is arrogant. There is a quote quite early on in the book, where Corinna is thinking to herself, "Everyone is afraid, only I am powerful". This pretty much shows her views of the World. She is very good at looking down on others, but to me, it seemed like a defense mechanism. She created a barrier between herself and the rest of the World because that was the only way she knew to protect herself. She never knew love, people only ever mistreated her. But as the story progressed, Corinna met people who showed her kindness; like Finian, and also the old dog Taffy, who surprisingly grew attached to her. While in the beginning she was wary of Finian as well as Taffy, pretending not to care, or even dislike them, eventually she starts to accept that even she can learn to care for others besides herself.
This was the first time I read a coming of age book quite like this one. The entire time I was reading this book, I was sitting at the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. Will the Folk devour her? Will Sir Edwards manage to kill her? Is she ever going to realize that there is something special in the way Finian treats her? But more importantly, will she ever realize that she herself has fallen for Finian? Will she realize who she is? As the reader, I think I knew from pretty early on who the real Corinna was, but it wasn't until much later that Corinna herself realized it. The tension between her and the Folk, and between her and Finian, and between her and Sir Edwards, kept rising and rising, and I kept waiting and waiting, and then finally all the missing pieces of the puzzle fell in place, and the whole picture came to light.
At the end of the day, this really was a story about growing up, and finding one's true self, and then accepting it. Do not not read this book because you think of this as a children's book. I assure you, it is much more than just that. And last but not the least, I loved Franny Billingsley's style of writing, and I presume, much of the joy derived from reading this book had to do with her way of telling a story. She is, at least from what I gathered after reading The Folk Keeper, a mighty story teller!
Corin Stonewall has a secret. As a matter of fact, he has quite a few. For a starter, Corin is actually a she, not a he, and her name is not Corin, but Corinna. She is also someone who always knows the time through some kind of internal clock, and her hair grows two inches every time she sleeps. Thanks to the fact that she looks like a little boy, it was quite easy to hide her true identity when she was finally out of the "Foundling House". Corinna never knew her parents. She was abandoned as a baby in front of the Foundling House where she grew up in poverty and negligence. Only the boys were taught the charms and the spells and to read and write. Corinna, realizing at an early age that she had to change her fate with her own hands, managed to learn all she could, sometimes through bribing, sometimes by eavesdropping, and when she was finally out of the Foundling House, she had chopped off her hair, pretended to be a boy, and found a job as a Folk Keeper. The Folk, the scary, wild, fierce Folk, kept her busy, but also gave her the freedom she so desired. Above all, being a Folk Keeper meant she had a home, a status, and a place where she belonged. But all that changed when Lord Merton, an old, dying man, summoned her, and told her that he had known her parents, and that he meant to bring her into his family and appoint her as the Folk Keeper of his vast estate in Cliffsend. This is where the story of our Folk Keeper truely begins.
In Cliffsend, Corinna meets a boy called Finian. Here she also meets Sir Edwards, and Lady Alicia, and Taffy, the old hound. But above all, she meets the real Corinna. Essentially, The Folk Keeper is a story about a young girl finding herself, establishing her identity, growing up and accepting who she really is, and who she is meant to be. There are obstacles, both internal and external, in her journey of self discovery, which are depicted in this book through characters such as Sir Edwards, who will do anything in his power to keep Corinna from learning the truth about herself, or giving her the things that are rightfully hers to take. And of course, the Folk. The Folk are always ready to tear her apart, make a feast out of her. Corinna has to deal with both Sir Edwards and the Folk simultaneously, while trying to figure out a way to survive and become who she is meant to be.
4 out of 5.
Title: The Folk Keeper (Buy on Amazon)
Author: Franny Billingsley
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1999
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult
Source: University of Denver Library