Review: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Genre: Adult

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Uva Wine & Spa's Words & Wine Book Club

Goodreads Says: On a winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced by a blizzard to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy. Yet when his daughter is born, he sees immediately that she has Down's 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 to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. But Caroline, the nurse, cannot leave the infant. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself. So begins this 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 long-ago winter night. Norah Henry, who knows only that her daughter died at birth, remains inconsolable; her grief weighs heavily on their marriage. And Paul, their son, raises himself as best he can, in a house grown cold with mourning. Meanwhile, Phoebe, the lost daughter, grows from a sunny child to a vibrant young woman whose mother loves her as fiercely as if she were her own.



The year is 1964. A young doctor, David Henry, helps deliver his twins. One is a healthy son and the other is a daughter who is born with Down's Syndrome. At that moment Dr. Henry chooses to hand over his daughter to his nurse, sending her to a facility which will take care of her and tells his wife that their daughter was delivered dead. With this simple act we are taken through the years silently reading about the events that unfolded as a result.

Reading this book was like being in a fog. It was like breathing, eating, living a fog full of secrets where nothing at all was as it seemed. And so sad. The moment I read the very first sentence I felt this way. It was a very eerie feeling. Even moments when there should be happiness it was sad. Even moments where there was nothing but happiness it was almost as if you were afraid to be happy too like it was taboo.


It was interesting to see how it all unfolded. I'm having a hard time rating it because although it was well written it left me with such a heavy feeling. Perhaps I wasn't in the mood to read this kind of book at this time. Perhaps I didn't quite agree with some of the characters, their train of thought and their actions. I will settle on 4 stars only because you will enjoy it if you feel this is your kind of book. If you are into more of a light read then I say RUN the other way.




View all my reviews