Kim Edwards The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Kim Edwards

Penguin, May 2006, $14.00

ISBN: 0143037145

In 1964 Lexington, Kentucky the snowstorm made traveling impossible so orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Henry delivers his fraternal twins in his home when his beloved wife Norah goes into labor. The boy is healthy but his sister has Down syndrome. Unable to cope with her imperfection as a result of a poor West Virginia childhood in which his sister died from a heart condition as a preadolescent, David orders his nurse, Caroline Gill to take the infant to a home. He tells Norah who recovers from the anesthesia that Paul's twin died at birth.

Caroline refuses to dump little Phoebe at the horribly looking shelter so she takes her to Pittsburgh. Over the next two decades plus, David wallows in guilt while Norah never recovered from her loss. They still mourn the deceased child. Paul struggles with growing up in a dysfunctional family and misses his sister in some deep rooted way that only twins can share.

The three prime players realistically feel the loss of Phoebe even twenty-fives after David did his ignoble deed; that is the essence of a solid story line as the tale focuses on the broken relationships between the three Henrys, who all carry emotional baggage. This is an interesting family drama in which a pivotal decision to avoid pain leads to so much more heartache. Though the final confrontation seems shallow compared to the one just prior between David and a pregnant teen, and with the quarter of a century lie, readers will be fascinated by the Henry's struggle to find some harmony.

Harriet Klausner