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Set in 1964 Dr David Henry helps deliver his own twins.Ìý Paul the son, is perfect, Phoebe the daughter, has Downs Syndrome.Ìý Haunted by his own childhood experience of an ailing sister, who died young, David makes a hasty decision to send Phoebe to an institution and let his unconscious wife believe the baby died at birth.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Thinking he would be protecting his family from future heartbreak, he orders his loyal nurse, Caroline, to take the baby to the home.Ìý She in turn makes her own life changing decision and keeps the child and raises her as her own.Ìý

These actions have far reaching drastic consequences on all concerned in this story of love and loss – that is the dilemma of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.

Review from the Retired Readers, St Neots

This book provoked quite a lot of discussion within our small reading group, which consists of six members, with some liking it more than others.Ìý The idea for the story was interesting but the development was disappointing.Ìý

Kim Edwards' writing was crammed with similes and metaphors that were irritating, whole sections were endless and pointless and seemed only to pad out the story.Ìý We all felt that the book would have benefited from better editing.

Kim Edwards, courtesy of Jeff rogers

This was a book of two stories and we all agreed that Caroline and Phoebe’s storyline was extremely interesting and enjoyable to read in comparison with the angst ridden lives of David and Norah.Ìý

We would have liked more details about how Downs Syndrome children were regarded in society in the 1960s, however we realise this was not the main aim of the story.Ìý As was said earlier, the novel shows the consequences of David Henry’s action in secretly giving away his baby daughter and the ensuing guilt that remains with him.

This drastic action was caused by a combination of his professional knowledge, his own experience with a dying sister and the prevailing attitudes in society at that time towards mentally handicapped children.

None of the group liked the characters of David and Norah but all empathised with Caroline, Phoebe, Al and Paul and some members felt that Paul was probably the most tragic figure of all, far more than the twin who was given away at birth.Ìý

We all found David a cold character and Norah completely colourless and at least two of the group skimmed through a lot of Norah’s sentimental bouts of nostalgia!Ìý There were also aspects of the book that were not clearly explained such as the development of David’s highly successful secondary career as a photographer which verged on the obsessive.Ìý There was disagreement about the ending of the story as well; some thought it was rounded off a little too neatly.

On the whole The Memory Keeper’s Daughter was an interesting, thought provoking read showing the tremendous sadness that could be caused through the desire to prevent a loved one suffering pain, because in the end the guilt killed David and Norah’s relationship.Ìý We were evenly split on those who would recommend it to a friend and those who would not.