Discount Price: $6.99
Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780142403570
ISBN number: 0142403571
Label: Puffin
Manufacturer: Puffin
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 240
Printing Date: November 03, 2005
Publishing house: Puffin
Age index: Young Adult
Sale Popularity Level: 339345
Studio: Puffin
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Damiana is Safe-Keeper in the small village of Tambleham. Neighbors and strangers alike come one by one, in secret, to tell her things, knowing that Damiana will keep them to herself. One night, a mysterious visitor arrives with an unusual secret— a newborn baby. Damiana names him Reed and raises him side by side with her baby daughter, Fiona. As the years pass and the two children come of age, they must come to terms with who they are—and who they may be. The Safe-Keeper’s Secret is the very first of a satisfying, beguiling trilogy.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
Although this book is well-written and has enjoyable characters, the "romance" was too disturbing for me. Shinn could have still delved into the lives of two step-siblings without adding romantic undertones between them. I found it creepy and disingenuous and certainly don't recommend it. What makes a family a family? Birth or raising? I think most of us would agree that it is in the love of the raising... that Shinn believes otherwise undercuts the entire journey of the characters as they find their truth.
I started with the Truth Teller's Tale and it was much better -- no incest, and excepting one part, much lighter overall. The romance was much more fun. Start there and if you must read this one, get it from the library and hide it from any step-family you know!
Rated by buyers 
-
Sharon Shinn has taken us to an alternate reality, a place full of beauty and peace as well as dark secrets. This very first book in a trilogy is delightful as are the other two. Each is complete in itself and I thouroughly enjoyed my visit.
Damiana is a secret-keeper, she keeps those secrets others need to share but can not or will not reveal. She does not reveal their deepest secrets. As she is bearing her own child, the secret-keeper of the king arrives with a baby and asks her to take the child and keep it safe. She agrees and he is later found dead by his own hand in the forest.
The safe-keeper keeps secrets, the truth-teller tells only the truth, and the dream-master gives shape to the hopes of others. These three have great influence on the many people who live in this land.
Damiana raises the child as one of her own. They live in Tambleham, a village far from the courts of the king. Reed and Fiona live a simple life, each seeking his place in the world. Fiona wants to be a secret-keeper like her mother and Reed wishes to travel and find his place.
I found the story delightful, the setting rural and peaceful, and the characters intriging. This was a wonderful read and you will not be sorry you took a chance and read it.
Rated by buyers -
This is a lovely story with an original concept. It has a fairy tale like feel to it with the prose. Young girls/teens and women should all enjoy it.
Rated by buyers -
This is a beautiful book about a young woman, Fiona, and her love for her friends and family. A quick, delightful read taking place in an imaginative fantasy world. This is the only one of the series I have read, having finished it yesterday (also having started it yesterday - it's a very quick read) but I fully intend to read the others. I love how Fiona's feelings are portrayed, how she longs to help others while still struggling to keep the secrets entrusted to her.
Rated by buyers -
The Safe-Keeper's Secret (2004) is a standalone fantasy novel. One night, the King's own Safe-Keeper came riding through Tambleham, stopping at the Safe-Keeper's house on the other side. There he left a baby and a secret.
Safe-Keepers exist only to keep secrets, some for just a short while and others for all eternity. Conversely, Truth-Tellers exist only to relate the literal truth. Dream-Makers exist to fulfill wishes through their magic, but cannot control the gift.
In this novel, Elminstra the herb witch comes to the Safe-Keeper's house early the subsequent morning with food and milk. She knocks on the door, calling out to the two sisters, then pushes it open after no one responds. Angeline comes to answer the knocking with a child in each arm, telling Elminstra that the girl is her sister's newborn and the boy has been left in their care.
Angeline is the Safe-Keeper for Lowford. She has come to help deliver the child of her sister Damiana, the Safe-Keeper for Tambleham. Damiana will raise the two children as if they are both her own, although the whole village knows that only one is hers. In fact, everybody else thinks that Reed is the illegitimate son of the King.
Reed and Fiona grow up as if they were twins. They even look alike. But Reed is full of energy, while Fiona is much more sedate. She remains calm even when Reed brings in a snake to show her and even looks for a box to keep it in for a pet. Yet Fiona always goes out to see any new thing that Reed finds in his roaming.
Reed isn't sure what he wants to be, but he is willing to try anything once. Fiona has always known that she will be a Safe-Keeper like her mother and grandmother. Thomas the Truth-Teller tries to tell Fiona that she will not follow in her mother's footsteps and she hates him for it. Like most people, she seems to hate disagreeable truths.
Fiona and Reed love the annual gathering in Damiana's house. Angeline and Thomas always come, as does Isodora the Dream-Maker. They make wreathes to burn on a great bonfire in the front yard and cook feasts to devour until they are all sated.
In this story, Fiona and Reed live together with Damiana as their mother until death takes Damiana away. Then Elminstra insists on her granddaughter Allison moving in with Fiona, even though Reed is away learning new trades much of the time. Every time he returns, Fiona feels like a missing part of her life is now
filled.
This story is without adventure, has very little suspense and almost no conflict. Deaths occur, but only Damiana's passing is dwelled upon and, even then, only for its affect on Fiona. This story is mostly about the growth and development of two children and their relationships with older friends. Nevertheless, it is a deeply satisfying story with a very moving conclusion.
This story is very much a fantasy without any chance of being mistaken for reality. Yet one can only wish that it were true. Some things should be real, even if only for a little while.
Highly recommended for Shinn fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of loving relationships and surprise endings.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Find other books like this one:
