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 loveKim Edwards’s stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964 in Lexington, Kentucky, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately … healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down syndrome. Rationalizing it as a need to protect Norah, his wife, he makes a split second decision that will alter all of their lives forever. He asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself. 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.
A 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.
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Very good book. I enjoyed it.
Well told story about hiding secrets doesn’t work and hurts more than yourself. There is also some redemption for the right characters in this story.
How decisions, come to weigh you down, and can change all. What a book, I liked the unraveling of characters personality and enjoyed this book very much.
Loved it
One mistake ruins a marriage and several lives for a number of years.
Thoroughly touching. Challenges oneself to think how you would have acted, wished you had acted if the circumstances occurred in your life.
Great book, I felt a lot of different emotions reading this book. I had to read it in one sitting! It’s a real page turner! You Read this book!
Well-told story of pride and prejudice – and one woman’s kindness and love.
Loved it.
A story of child loss and deceit. Heartbreaking story about a parent that turns away a child because she is not perfect and the repercussions of his actions later in life. The child caretaker is the real hero in the book.
Reread it time and time again, and it is just packed with
reality, complexity, and wonder!
Despite the soaring prose this was a rather dismal story until the last few chapters. It was an ok book but I wouldn’t read it again.
This is an interesting story. I had trouble believing the choices made by the main characters.
This is a great story.HONESTLY. Simply a beautiful story of family love.I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this to everyone with a heart. Such a touching story.Really enjoyed it.You will too.
I was taken by characters and it will make you weep, and hedge at your conscience
Too long ago read
This book was very thought-provoking and sad with many surprising twists and turns. It begins with a loving, caring, basically good man, an orthopaedic surgeon, whose wife. whom he dearly loves. gives birth to twins: a healthy baby boy and a daughter who has Downs Syndrom. He had had a younger sister who was born with a defectve heart. She was sickly all of her short life (she died at the age of 12) which broke his mother’s heart. Because he wants to protect his wife and doesn’t want to see her suffer a similar fate, he gives his daughter away and tells everyone that she died at birth. The book tells the story of the effect that this monumental lie has on all characters lives: the doctor, himself, his wife, his son, his nurse who secretly adopts and raises his daughter, his daughter and many others. Ironically, each one of them has secrets of his or her own and tells big or small lies of omission or commission to cover up the secrets…as do all of us!
This book was so intriguing! It was truly a page turner from the beginning. There was A low grade sense of suspense throughout as well as a feeling that your heart was tight and twisted and waiting to release into relaxation. There Was a rich tapestry of characters each living in their isolated worlds searching for connection in order to become fully human. This was one of the books I truly got lost in and found myself in a hurry to complete. I highly recommend it.
Would recommend
The story is interesting, but I did not care for the author’s writing style. Her writing is overly descriptive. The smallest actions by characters are analyzed in depth. There are no really likable characters.