Gisela Jernigan, Ph.D. (Children's Literature)
Fifteen-year old Corinna Stonewall has been passing as a boy for four years so that she can work as a folk keeper, a man skilled at pacifying the fierce, inhuman, little creatures that live in cellars and threaten to wreck havoc if not properly cared for. When she is mysteriously summoned to a new position at an estate at Cliffsend, she must deal with new secrets, as well as try to understand her strange powers and attributes, such as magical silver hair that grows two inches a night and the ability to call up storms. The author uses some aspects of British folklore concerning seal maidens, her own imagination and poetic style to create an eerie and unique, fantasy coming of age novel. 1999, Atheneum, $16.00. Ages 10 to 14.

Alexandria LaFaye, Ph.D. (Children's Literature)
In an intriguing fantasy tale about a young orphan girl, who masquerades as a boy to become a "folk keeper," Billingsley explores the restrictions of gender. Young Corinna has hair that grows two inches a night and a strong desire to escape the drudgery of housework in a feudal society that only educates boys. Disguising herself as Corin, she becomes a folk keeper, the person who appeases the folk who reside in caves and attack when not well fed. Moving to an island estate, Corinna discovers her own true identity as a half-human and half-sealfolk daughter of nobility. The plot is compelling, the descriptions are often poetic, but like many fantasy writers who challenge gender roles, Billingsley still has romantic love as the apex of the hero(ine)'s growth. 1999, Atheneum, $16.00. Ages 10 to 14.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, 1999)
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). 1999, Atheneum, $16.00. © 1999 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Janice M. Del Negro (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October 1999 (Vol. 53, No. 2))
Fantasy is a genre that permits a certain indulgence in extremes, easily encompassing life-altering events and monumental emotions. When composed with grace, the language of fantasy makes the abstract concrete; unexplained longings and dark fears, the thirst for freedom and the need for love are captured in words that give them form and substance. With The Folk Keeper, Franny Billingsley has written a novel in which powerful words equal powerful enchantment, and she has done so with some powerful words of her own. For four years, orphan Corinna Stonewall has been hiding her gender beneath the trousers and dirty face of Corin, a Folk Keeper, one of few individuals gifted with the talent to keep the fierce and ravenous Folk content and confined behind various portals from underground caverns to the upper world. In the cellar of the orphanage, Corin/Corinna “sits with the Folk for hour upon hour in the dark, drawing off their anger as a lightning rod draws off lightning.” When the Lady Alicia comes to her with a deathbed request from her elderly husband, Corinna leaves the orphanage behind to become Folk Keeper for the Manor at Marblehaugh Park, on the northernmost island of Cliffsend. She soon discovers that the Manor Folk are stronger than those of the orphanage, and her usual tricks and persuasions will not work with them. At great spiritual and physical cost, Corinna manages to restrain the seething Folk, even as she discovers truths about her origin that exhilarate and endanger her. Her odyssey of personal discovery brings her a dear friend in Lady Alicia’s son, Finian (aka Fin), and a dangerous enemy in Fin’s wicked uncle, Lord Edward. Corinna narrates her own story through entries in her Folk Record; those entries provide unintended insights into her own wild psyche and fierce emotions and become the story of both her liberation and her redemption. In the course of this carefully nuanced tale, Corinna grows and changes from an adolescent girl with a single-minded determination to ensure her own survival at any cost to a young woman who, in spite of herself, responds to the only kindness she has ever known. The romantic tension between Corinna and Fin is beautifully understated: Fin honors Corinna’s wish to be Corin, even as he falls ever deeper in love with her; Corinna fights her attraction to Fin, determined not to surrender herself. Their union is far from a foregone conclusion, and that suspense adds an exquisite, subtle energy that is maintained until the final pages. The remote island of Cliffsend is peopled with intensely rendered individuals that make an indelible mark on Corinna, and the reader. Key characters--the gracious Lady Alicia, struggling to manage the Manor and its lands; the sinister Sir Edward, scheming to have the Manor for himself; the tender Fin, undeceived by Corinna’s disguise--are archetypal yet original, distinctively fulfilling their function in the plot. Corinna, herself an archetypal (and therefore potentially flat) character, is given dimension and motivation, her willful words and innate wit marking her as a force to be reckoned with. As she did in Well Wished (BCCB 4/97), Billingsley creates a consistently complex fantasy world that steps just beyond the familiar into wonder. The natural landscape and seascape are permeated with a tempestuous magic that is barely contained. The sea is a constant, brooding, nearly sentient presence: “The sea up close is enormous. I squeezed my eyes against it for a moment, which is ridiculous, like fighting a giant with a pin. It comes to you anyway, through your ears and nose and skin and tongue. It is a savage, muscular thing, a vast dim wetness battering at the land and the air and all your senses.” The supernatural beings of this untamed terrain--selkies, hell hounds--emerge from the darker pages of faery lore, and the Folk themselves are a revelation. There are no Tinkerbells or gauzy godmothers in this fantasy world; the Folk are the dark ones, the spawn of an Unseely court, voracious (“They are mostly mouth. Wet mouth and teeth”) and implacable. In imagistic language, Billingsley masterfully combines elements from traditional folklore with more mundane things like greed, murder, and betrayal. The trajectory of the plot creeps slowly from the darkness of a Folk Keeper’s cellar, gathers momentum during a Midsummer Eve masquerade, roars to a revelatory crescendo in an underground cavern, and resolves itself in a sea change and a choice. Breathtakingly imaginative, with an earthy magic that grounds it in passion, this is sophisticated fantasy from a powerful pen. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R* -- Denotes books of special distinction. (c) Copyright 1999, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1999, Karl/Atheneum, 176p, $16.00. Grades 6-10.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2000)
Corinna has disguised herself as a boy so that she can be a Folk Keeper--one who protects a household from wrathful spirits. Drenched in imagery of the sea, the story draws on selkie lore, and Corinna's true identity--a secret far greater than just her boyish disguise--is eventually revealed. Steeped in atmosphere, the novel contains an intricate plot, vibrant characters, and dangerous intrigue. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 1999, Atheneum/Karl, 162pp, $16.00. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

Monica Irwin (The Lorgnette - Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 12, No. 4))
Corinna is a young girl living in an age where boys are given the rights and are respected, while girls are servants and have no real role in society. So she disguises herself as a boy and is known as Corin. Because she is an orphan, no one suspects. Corin is given the responsibility to feed the "folk"--a kind of fairy or gnome group (never really explained thoroughly). She is respected as the Folk Keeper. However, when her secret is discovered, she is sent away to live at Cliffsend. She is distraught and believes she will never again have a special place in society. But it is at Cliffsend that she finds her true destiny. This novel will appeal to young girls struggling with identity and self-esteem. Because it is a fantasy, readers can go into another world while discovering themselves. Because Corinna is a strong girl, she could easily become a hero to the readers. This is an enjoyable fantasy that should prove to be a popular book. Fiction. Grades 6 and up. 1999, Atheneum, 162p, $16.00. Ages 11 up.

Jamie S. Hansen (VOYA, December 1999 (Vol. 22, No. 5))
Fifteen-year-old Corinna Stonewall is a Folk Keeper, and has the power to dissipate the fury of the Folk, savage and malignant creatures who lurk in the dark places below human habitation. Disguised as a boy, Corinna/Corin is happy in the Foundling Home's cellar, close to the Folk, reading their unpredictable moods and scrounging the best food to placate them. Her contentment is disrupted when the dying Lord Merton insists that she become Folk Keeper for his Northern Isles estate, Cliffside. Corinna learns the secrets of her new home and also discovers that her true bond is with the sea, for she is a seal maiden. Corinna must ultimately make the classic seal maiden's choice between sea and land. This decision is complicated by her growing love for Finian, Lord Merton's stepson, and the evil plotting of the estate's steward, Lord Edward. Corinna is an interesting character, as proud, quick-tempered, naďve, and self-contained as an animal, but capable of telling her story in a revealing and personal journal. Her world, the alternate eighteenth-century England of coaches, footmen, and powdered hair, is competently realized and described. The tense plot thread of the relationship between the Folk and Folk Keeper could have been expanded into a story by itself. The author is occasionally guilty of overwriting, but she has produced an entertaining and imaginative fantasy with a tough female protagonist who should appeal to fans of Robin McKinley and Patricia McKillip. VOYA CODES: 4Q 3P M J (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 1999, Atheneum/S & S, 176p, $16. Ages 11 to 15.