| People go to Safekeepers to tell them secrets that they can no longer carry on their own. Sometimes those secrets are carried to the grave, and sometimes those secrets are revealed when the time is right. On the night the safekeeper Damiana gives birth, she is left with an unusual secret. A mysterious man gives a baby into her care, leaving her with only the name of the baby's father. The story picks back up ten years later. Damiana has raised the baby, Reed, as her own, along with her daughter Fiona. The local gossip says that Reed is the bastard son of the King, but Fiona is very close to her foster brother anyway. On their tenth birthday, Thomas the traveling truthteller visits. Fiona does not like him, because he scrupulously tells the truth, which can seem very harsh. She is furious when he tells her she will not be a safekeeper, like her mother, and she is determined to prove him wrong. The year they turn fifteen, Reed and Fiona are sent to stay with their Aunt in the nearby village of Lowford, for the summer. Fiona learns herb lore from her aunt and Reed works for a merchant. When they return home, they discover that Damiana is dying. Fiona is devastated. A few months later, just before she dies, Damiana passes a secret into Fiona's safekeeping. After that Fiona, steps into her mothers shoes as the village safekeeper and Reed returns to Lowford to continue working for the merchant. Fiona has to deal with her loneliness and her grief, but slowly the villagers see that see is trustworthy and start to reveal their secrets to her. As time passes, Fiona discovers that she is not as suited to the life of a safekeeper as she expected to be. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book - very upbeat FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy world/fantasy past Coming of age Yes Youngster becomes - an adult (general) Is this an adult or child's book? - Kid's book (ages 7-14) Family relations Yes Descript. of chases or violence - 10 % planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 50 % Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20 % Main Character Identity: - Female Age: - a teen Main Adversary Identity: - none Setting Terrain A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a primitive/fantasy society Planet outside solar system? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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