The Safe-Keeper's Secret by Sharon Shinn

Sharon Shinn's elegant little novel is one of the more enjoyable things I've happened upon this summer. Some months ago I had read her novel, Summer's at Castle Auburn had been keeping an eye out for more of her books since then. While I found The Safe-Keeper's Secret in the YA section, I hope this doesn't deter anyone from picking it up. It's a beautiful little story that brought me to tears on several occasions. There's no sex, no war, no life and death mystery...just ordinary people trying to make sense of their lives, and because of that perhaps it touched me more deeply than anything I've read in a long time.

Shinn has a knack of turning even the most predictable tales into poetry. Like Luanne Rice, she creates characters that touch our hearts and families that threaten to break them. I look forward to reading the two other books which, with Secret, create a loosely themed trilogy. Each novel stands apart, even as they explore elements of the same fantastic medieval setting.