The Memory Keeper's Daughter: A Novel by Kim Edwards
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Book Reviews of The Memory Keeper's Daughter: A Novel
Book Review: The worst lie you can possibly imagine being told
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Memory Keeper's Daughter" is one of those books that hooks you from the very first page and keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end of the story.
In 1964, Dr. David Henry delivers his fraternal twins during a snowstorm. His son Paul is born first, and everything about the baby is perfect. Unfortunately, little Phoebe is born with Down's syndrome, and David does the unthinkable: he orders his trusted nurse, Caroline, to take Phoebe away to an institution. David then proceeds to tell everyone, including his wife, Norah, that Phoebe died at birth.
The madness of th situation doesn't end there. At first Caroline follows Henry's instructions and takes Phoebe to the institution. However, Caroline is horrified by the conditions of the home and instead decides to leave town and raise Phoebe as her own daughter. Caroline informs Henry of her decision and he consents to it, proceeding to live out the rest of his life hiding the secret of his daughter's very existence.
Author Kim Edwards tells this story from many characters' points of view and over the course of more than 20 years. We see how Phoebe's supposed death eats away at the remains of the Henry family, and how David's secret completely consumes him. Additionally, we see what happens to Phoebe, and learn how her life is very different than anything David ever anticipated.
This is an incredibly dark, emotional, and poignant novel. What struck me the most was reading Edwards' note at the end of the book explaining how this story was loosely based on true events. It's hard to imagine a world in which no one would give a second thought to casting aside another human being, regardless of their disability. Also, the fact that anyone would attempt to keep such an unbelievable secret and spend the rest of their life living a horrible lie is unfathomable to me.
I was absolutely blown away by this book. Everyone should read this story!
Book Review: The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Summary: 5 Stars
Every once in a while you read a book and realise that you will never produce such a work of art, and all your literary efforts seem a waste. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards did that to me.
It reads as if it's a thriller and I found myself leaping through pages to find what happens, yet it is so complex with shifting points of view and poignancy. A real heart-warming story that examines our human foibles, yet Edwards has such a deft touch that even though the characters make choices that should be unforgivable, you feel nothing but compassion for them.
The blurb reads:
"This stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr David Henry to deliver his own twins. His son, born first is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognises that his daughter has Down's syndrome. For motives he tells himself are good, he makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever. He asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child as her own."
Reading this novel made me ask questions of myself. In this day and age we have all sorts of tests to determine the health and condition of babies. If a woman is at an age where Down's syndrome is more of a danger she has the choice to find out and terminate the pregnancy. But would you?
The book examines how Dr Henry makes the choice to discard his daughter because of the pain he believes his family will face, not realising the consequences of this choice and the way this secret will mar the rest of his life.
A story that keeps your turning the pages, while also making you think.
Book Review: Emotional and heart-wrenching!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a story of love, deception, tragedy and possible redemption. When orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Henry is forced to deliver his own twin babies during a freak snowstorm in Kentucky, he is faced with a dilemma. His son is born healthy, while his daughter is born with Down Syndrome.
Recognizing the battle that lays ahead for a handicapped child and for his family, he makes a life-changing decision--one that will affect many lives in the end. He tells his nurse, Caroline Gill, to take his daughter to a home for disabled children and the deception begins. He explains to his wife that their daughter died at birth and one lie leads to another. Then Caroline disappears with the baby and David is haunted by guilt and fear.
The story reveals each character's reaction to the baby girl's "death". The son Paul would give anything to have his twin back; Norah, David's wife, mourns the loss of a baby and this affects their marriage. There is a strong message in this powerful and compelling story, a message of faith, trust and hope...but most of all love.
After losing my son 4 hours after his birth, this novel brought back poignant memories and tugged at the pit of my stomach. The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a novel worth reading and crying over. And it is one that stays with you long after you've put it down.
As an author myself I appreciate a book that makes me 'feel' things, as that is my goal with my own novels. Kim Edwards has certainly accomplished that goal. This is a 2-Kleenex box book! Kudos, Kim!
~ Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Author of Divine Intervention
Book Review: A book that is is not cliched or full of syrup
Summary: 5 Stars
What would you do if on a cold night your wife gave birth to twins and one of them had Downs Syndrome? Would you make the best of things and hope that your daughter had a good and productive life whilst your other child, sound in mind and limb could go an and lead the life you would have liked for both of them?
Dr David Henry faces this dilemma when his wife Norah gives birth to twins, one a boy perfect and sound, the other a girl, cursed in his eyes with Downs.
In a moment of madness that he will live to regret, he hands his daughter over to the Nurse who has helped deliver his children and tells her to take her away and put her in an institution.
Caroline Gill, the Nurse is not willing at first to do this but because she is a little in love with the Doctor, does intend to what he asks until she sees what a horrific place the child will be raised in and takes the child away with her, passing her off as her own, an act of madness and kindness that will reverberate down the years and haunt all those involved, including Norah whose believes her daughter died at birth and grieves for her year after year and Paul, the perfect twin who whilst growing up feels he can never live up to his father's expectations of him, along with the burden of loss, that of a twin sister he never got to know.
A beautiful tear jerker of a book with no syrup to make it over sweet and unpalatable, just tender hearth ache, human frailties and the knowledge that one simple act will tear a family apart and leave each and every one of them searching for something they don't know they have lost.
Book Review: Beautifully written with compassion
Summary: 5 Stars
I really love this book. The language is beautiful and compassionate, revealing characters that seem so real to me. There are no heros in the story. Every major character is shown, in Elizabeth Kubler Ross' description, to have a Ghandhi and a Hitler in him or her - David Henry is a saint in the eyes of his patients but a stone wall to his son and wife, Norah a frustrated wife and mother who escapes by drinking and extramarital affairs, Paul a handsome and gifted son who vents his angst and yearning for connection with his parents through occasional emotional outbursts and drugs. Even the seemingly heroic Caroline admits that she is no hero at all as she has her own selfish motives by raising the retarded Phoebe as her own.
The story is heavy and tragic, particularly when David Henry, who carries a life-long betrayal and secret, dies suddenly of a heart attack. There is no way for him to reconcile with the people he has indeed loved. He has left behind a lot of unfinished business for them. But in the end, his wife has chosen to forgive and start a new life, and his son joins his twin sister in singing a hymn of a love and blessing in front of his father's grave.
Life carries a lot of imperfections, but as the author suggests in her compassionate language, it is indeed a blessing to be able to take off our masks and express our guileless love to the people we care about.
For me, the book is a real page-turner. I finished it in three late nights, and didn't regret it despite my baggy eyes in the morning.