The Robber Girl

By: Franny Billingsley

Narrated by: Kimberly Woods

Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Part literary mystery, part magical tour de force - an incantatory novel of fierce beauty, lyricism, and originality from a National Book Award Finalist

A brilliant puzzle of a book from the author of Chime and The Folk Keeper plunges us into the vulnerable psyche of one of the most memorable unreliable narrators in decades. The Robber Girl has a good dagger. Its voice in her head is as sharp as its two edges that taper down to a point. Today, the Robber Girl and her dagger will ride with Gentleman Jack into the Indigo Heart to claim the gold that’s rightfully his. But instead of gold, the Robber Girl finds a dollhouse cottage with doorknobs the size of apple seeds. She finds two dolls who give her three tasks, even though she knows that three is too many tasks. The right number of tasks is two, like Grandmother gave to Gentleman Jack: Fetch unto me the mountain’s gold, to build our city fair. Fetch unto me the wingless bird, and I shall make you my heir. The Robber Girl finds what might be a home, but to fight is easier than to trust when you’re a mystery even to yourself and you’re torn between loyalty and love.

The Robber Girl is at once achingly real - wise to the nuances of trauma - and loaded with magic, action, and intrigue. Every sentence shines, sharp as a blade, in a beautifully crafted novel about memory, identity, and the power of language to heal and reconstruct our lives.

©2021 by Franny Billingsley, original book published by Candlewick Press. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Narrator Kimberly Woods deftly delivers the puzzle of the Robber Girl, keeping listeners guessing.… Woods's narration starts out tough as she portrays the skeptical Robber Girl and transitions to a softer, kinder voice as the girl's identity and past are unveiled. Woods's pacing keeps the mystery engaging and adds to the rich sensory details of the story. The rough voice of the dagger as it tries to wield power is sharp, and the juxtaposition of the dagger and the calm judge works well to depict the conflict in this emotional mystery.” —AudioFile Magazine

Simple language, deep themes

Fair warning, I read the folk keeper and well wished a few years after they came out when I was about 13 so this author and her stories have always had a special place in my memory. The themes of the novel are heavy: an unreliable narrator attempting to work her way through past violence and trauma while figuring out how to accept the kindness and compassion of strangers, all while figuring out the truth of her past and future and just who has been lying to her and who hasn’t.

Just to be clear, this is still a children’s novel. Starling uses direct, simple language to describe the new world she inhabits as she comes to live at Blue Roses, but she comes off as clever, imaginative, and with a mind always thinking and plotting her way through her next scheme. The author uses repetition of certain snatches of religious rhymes as a poetic device woven seamlessly through the narrative and it becomes central to the plot of the story and the magic of this world. Starling also has a very interesting relationship with her dagger (who she has regular conversations with) and i really did love how as the story progresses and she grows into herself, her feelings toward her dagger change. Of course by the end, like starling, you will be sick of the dagger and its stupidity, but that’s meant to happen. In fact just about every inanimate object has a personality in this novel though it’s unclear whether that’s because starling talks to herself because of her mutism or if it’s because of starling’s vivid imagination or magic, but I guess it doesn’t really matter.

I won’t say much more so I don’t spoil anything, but I shamelessly enjoyed it- there’s quite a lot to love about it- the angry prickly child coming into her own, the well constructed little world of Blue Roses and the mystical religion surrounding it, the many mysteries surrounding the town and its connection to the narrator, even the characterizations of the judge, his wife and town folk felt warm and real to me.

If there is a wasted word in this novel, I don’t have the skill to find it, and considering that this author rarely publishes, to me at least, every one is a treasure.

I have two criticisms: this town and the towns around it are based in a magical Wild West America or maybe Canada, yet any non white or native persons are conspicuously absent. It does take away from my enjoyment a little, and if it makes you more uneasy, I wouldn’t blame you.

Also, this is a book that depicts a religious community positively while framing the outsiders as being ungrateful villains who are rightfully deserving of their outsider status, which if you have experienced trauma from a cult or cultish religious community could easily retraumatize you. I’ve almost never visited or been in a religious community that didn’t have cult-like elements, and since there are hints of that here, maybe that’s something you should discuss with your child should they choose to read it.

Unique voice

That I just could not get into. The way her inanimate object of a knife kept talking to her or the dolls drove me a little batty, especially considering this is not a horror story.