The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

David's undetected lie warps his marriage he grapples with guilt Norah mourns her lost child and Paul not only deals with his parents' icy relationship but with his own yearnings for his sister as well. David's deception becomes the defining moment of the main characters' lives, and Phoebe's absence corrodes her birth family's core over the course of the next 25 years. Instead of institutionalizing Phoebe, Caroline absconds with her to Pittsburgh. Seeing his daughter's handicap, he instructs the nurse, Caroline Gill, to take her to a home and later tells Norah, who was drugged during labor, that their son Paul's twin died at birth. David Henry, must deliver their babies himself, aided only by a nurse. A snowstorm immobilizes Lexington, Ky., in 1964, and when young Norah Henry goes into labor, her husband, orthopedic surgeon Dr. So begins this beautifully told story that unfolds over a quarter of a century-in which these two families, ignorant of each other, are yet bound by the fateful decision made that winter night long ago.Ī family drama, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter explores every mother's silent fear: What would happen if you lost your child and she grew up without you? It is also an astonishing tale of love and how the mysterious ties that hold a family together help us survive the heartache that occurs when long-buried secrets are finally uncovered.Įdwards's assured but schematic debut novel (after her collection, The Secrets of a Fire King) hinges on the birth of fraternal twins, a healthy boy and a girl with Down syndrome, resulting in the father's disavowal of his newborn daughter. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself. He asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. Rationalizing it as a need to protect Norah, his wife, he makes a split second decision that will alter all of their lives forever. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down syndrome. Kim Edwards’s stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964 in Lexington, Kentucky, when a blizzard forces Dr. A #1 New York Times bestseller by Kim Edwards, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is a brilliantly crafted novel of parallel lives, familial secrets, and the redemptive power of love

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards