By HAYLEE SAESEE
Staff Writer
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
Genre: Psychological Fiction & Domestic Fiction
Page Count: 448
Quote:
“He’d kept this silence because his own secrets were darker, more hidden and because he believed that his secrets had created hers. (Edwards p. 203)”
Synopsis:
On a snowy winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry hurries his pregnant wife, Norah, to the hospital, where she gives birth to their son Paul, with the assistance of her husband and nurse Caroline Gill. However, Dr. Henry learns that his wife is carrying twins and assists in the birth of their second child, Phoebe. Not long after she is born, he discovers Phoebe has Down syndrome and gives her to Nurse Caroline, explaining that he doesn’t want Norah to go through what his sick sister’s death nearly did to his mother. Instead, he advises Caroline to transport Phoebe to an institution for mentally ill people since he believes the child won’t survive much longer, and he informs Norah that Phoebe was a stillbirth. But after visiting the institution and observing the conditions, Caroline decides to bring the infant home. Caroline starts to raise the child as her own with the help of a trucker named Al, while Dr. Henry becomes fixated on photography after receiving a camera from his wife. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter deals with a spur-of-the-moment decision that, throughout time, has a significant impact on the lives of various people.