The Memory Keepers Daughter

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A predicament so deliciously high on schadenfreude injects family drama with a touch of the misery memoir, and lends itself easily to heated book club discussion.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

The novel opens in Kentucky in David Henry has married the elegant and palely wistful Norah after catching sight of her in a department store and pursuing the blonde vision. Domestic harmony is shattered when she gives birth to twins and Dr Henry recognises the signs of Down's syndrome in the second.

Having witnessed his own mother suffering the childhood death of his sister, he decides to spare his wife the pain of bringing up a daughter with a shortened life expectancy and informs her that the second twin, Phoebe, died at birth. In fact, he has asked the nurse on duty, a trusted colleague, to take Phoebe to a home for the mentally impaired, and thus the psychological haunting of the Henry family begins.

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But unbeknown to the protagonists, a new plot strand is stirring. The nurse, Caroline Gill, is unable to place Phoebe in the institution selected by her father and skedaddles into a snowstorm with a newborn under her arm. Fresh from his daughter's bogus memorial service, Dr Henry discovers this inconvenient act of altruism, and Caroline decides to reinvent herself as a single mother in Pittsburgh.

This is an unlikely scenario, burdened with too many improbables and underpinned by a structure of convenient psychological justifications.

But there's no denying Edwards's ability to spin a tale, and The Memory Keeper's Daughter is gripping from its start. Caroline bonds with Phoebe and becomes politically active on her behalf, while Norah Henry brings up Phoebe's twin, Paul, in a haze as she mourns her supposedly dead daughter.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards | leondumoulin.nl

She continues to decline, although out of doubts for his fatherly love for Phoebe rather than his romantic intentions toward her. Phoebe is stung by a bee while at play and has a serious allergic reaction. Al helps Caroline take her to the hospital and steps in when a nurse's comment about Phoebe's condition outrages Caroline. Caroline realizes his genuine love for her and fatherly intentions for Phoebe. She tells Al she wants to marry him. Paul and Phoebe are now thirteen, and Caroline and Al have been married five years. David sends Caroline a letter, asking her to let him meet Phoebe and allow her to know her twin brother, Paul.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter Summary

Caroline decides not to contact David again, worried he might unknowingly hurt Phoebe. Paul is becoming an accomplished guitarist and dreams of attending Juilliard. David and Norah live almost completely separate lives and differ on what Paul should do when he's older. Norah simply wants her son to be happy, while David pushes Paul to follow a career path that will guarantee stability, money, and success.


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While on vacation in Aruba , Norah has a love affair with Howard, who is also married with children at home. David blames the affair on himself and continues to spend more and more time in his darkroom with his photographs of Phoebe. Paul and Phoebe are now twenty-five. Norah and David are divorced and Paul is traveling and studying music in France.

Phoebe is in love with Robert, who also has Down syndrome, and wants to get married and live in a group home, but Caroline is scared to let Phoebe live an independent life. David considers making a confession to Norah about Phoebe but can't bear to go through with it. Soon afterward, he dies from a heart attack.


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Later, when Norah sorts through David's collection of photographs, she begins to understand him in a way she never did when they were married. Caroline comes to visit Norah and explains that Phoebe never died at all and is living with her. Norah and Paul later visit Pittsburgh and meet Phoebe for the first time.

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Paul drives Phoebe to their late father's grave, despite her not knowing who he was to her. Paul thinks of what his twin sister might have been like if she had not been born with Down syndrome. A made-for-television movie premiered on Lifetime Television on April 12, Portions of the movie were shot in Windsor, Nova Scotia.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter Summary

It was released to DVD in October From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. August Learn how and when to remove this template message. The New York Times. Retrieved November 28,