The Memory Keeper's Daughter

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards is a book about a husband and wife who had a great marriage before the birth of their twins. It was a snowy night and there was no time to get to the hospital when the mother went into birth, so the husband being a doctor got the help of one of his assistants at his office, and helped her give birth to their children. When the babies are born, the baby boy is perfect, but the little girl seems to been born with Down’s Syndrome. Meanwhile his wife Norah is asleep, and Dr. David Henry makes a stupid decision in telling the assistant, Caroline Gill, to take the baby girl Phoebe to an institution that will care for children like Phoebe. David has difficulty telling Norah that Phoebe had Down’s Syndrome, so he tells her that the baby girl was born dead. This is the beginning of the downfall of their relationship. Norah can tell that something is different with David, and she always wants to see her baby girl. Meanwhile, Caroline feels bad leaving the baby at such a dark place, so she leaves the town with the baby and moves to Pittsburgh where she starts a new life. There she meets people who welcome her and help her get her life together. Eventually she is happily married and loves Phoebe with all her heart. She fights for the rights of the disabled and helps Phoebe live a good life. If I had to choose some of the best parts of the book, I would say I loved hearing about Caroline and Phoebe. Usually one chapter would be about David and then the next would be about Caroline. I enjoyed hearing about Caroline and Phoebe because it was much more happier and uplifting. When the story went to David, Norah, and their son Paul, it was normally sad and disappointing. I got angry that David would not just tell Norah the truth. If he had, the whole story would have been completely different and their family probably would have been in a much better state. I especially enjoyed hearing that