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    The Memory Keeper's Daughter
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    The Memory Keeper's Daughter
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    The Memory Keeper's Daughter
    Audiobook (abridged)16 hours

    The Memory Keeper's Daughter

    Written by Kim Edwards

    Narrated by Martha Plimpton

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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 beautifully told 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.

    A brilliantly crafted, stunning debut, The Memory Keeper's Daughter explores the way life takes unexpected turns, and how the mysterious ties that hold a family together help us survive the heartache that occurs when long-buried secrets burst into the open.

    Performed by Martha Plimpton

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateFeb 7, 2006
    ISBN9780061284786
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Memory Keeper's Daughter

    3.5/5

    5,126 ratings289 reviews

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    • 4/5
      To write so eloquently about such a cold and desolate topic is testament to the author's descriptive skills and delicate observations of nature and human behaviours as 'moving images, unfolding and change'.
    • 1/5
      I attempted to read this but it was a little "too much" for me right now. Maybe later....
    • 4/5
      This was the story about one man's decision to 'get rid of' one of his twins because of she had Down's Syndrome and the life-long ramifications of this decision for him and his family. It was set in the middle 1960's which is important to keep in mind when trying to understand the motivation behind this decision. I would assume that the medical and educational helps we have access to today wouldn't necessarily have been available then so in one sense this man's decision could be seen as perfectly logical.

      Having said the above, I did feel that David, as good as his intentions may have seemed to him at the time, was being highly insensitive to take upon himself, without discussion with his wife, the decision to 'get rid of' Phoebe as if someone had made him God. The thing that really irked me about him was how he never included his wife in deciding what to do. Phoebe was not just his child but also Norah's and as such she had the right to be included in any, and all, decision making. As a result of David's lies (telling Norah that Phoebe was dead) was that he built a huge wedge between him and Norah which naturally affected their marital relationship (which he acknowledged many, many years later). Norah became distant from him, in part because he was caring around so much unnecessary guilt, but also because a part of her hadn't been able to really accept that Phoebe was dead, which of course she wasn't. Essentially one person's lies in this relationship slowly ate away at it leading to a very dysfunctional and unhealthy existence between the two.

      I really admired Caroline for taking on the challenge of raising Phoebe like she did. I also admire her for seeing beyond the disability to the child underneath. This makes a massive difference to how someone responds to another human being. In the end, after David's death, Caroline was the one who had to break to Norah that her daughter was in fact very much alive and doing really well for herself. This was a credit to Caroline for believing that Phoebe had a right to some sort of existence and to be treated as much as possible as a normal human being. This she did with great aplomb and with a determination that allowed her to fight for both a better education for people like Phoebe and better medical care as well.

      This book provides the reader with an excellent snapshot into the consequences of not only lying, but lying within an otherwise healthy relationship and how this affects the relationship. It also speaks to those who have children with a disability about the importance of fighting for that child's rights because they're human beings that deserve the best that can be provided. But I also believe there's another level that this book speaks to: the importance of not being rushed to grieve and get it over with. This latter level, in today's extremely busy society where everything needs to be done yesterday almost, there has never been a more important message to get out there. Grieving can not, and should not, be rushed. People grieve in different ways and at different times and this needs to not only be accepted, but also to be acknowledged.
    • 3/5
      This book was truly captivating. The way Dr. Henry handles the situation at hand is cleverly crafted and keeps the reader's attention from beginning to end. Edwards does an amazing job telling the story as it most likely would have happened in the early 1960s. My only complaint is that the movie based on this book leaves out details that I found to be key parts of the story, as well as a slightly different ending that takes away the mystery the book left.
    • 1/5
      I thought I was going to cry over this one, but nah.

      To be frank, I was saddened and dismayed by the The Memory Keeper's Daughter. The whole thing revolved on that one event, when the twins were delivered and the other one with Down syndrome taken away by the nurse under the father/doctor's instructions. I think that was the only significant thing that happened. From there it just tells the unfolding of each one of their lives.

      I don't know, it's just that it told how one family went downhill and how the other went by well. What happened to David's (father/doctor) family was disappointing.

      And only two parts of the book got some real emotion from me: David's death, and the twins, Paul and Phoebe's reconnection at the end of the novel.

      I thought there was "something" in this book. I thought it was somewhere along the lines between The Time Traveler's Wife or Tuesdays with Morrie or whatever. But no. So, 1 star.
    • 5/5
      Dr. David Henry and his wife are expecting a lovely child. Their life is perfect and they have no worries, until she is ready to deliver. An unexpected snow storm has Dr. Henry delivering his own child in his small office not too far from their home. She delivers a healthy child and the worry is lifted off of their shoulders. But, they weren't ready for what happened next. She unexpectedly delivered another child with Down Syndrome. Dr. Henry didn't know what he should do, so he decided to have his nurse, Caroline, take the baby girl to an institution. This decision that he made led their lives to destruction. Caroline took the baby, but didn't have the guts to leave it there in the institution, so she decided to raise it as her own. Caroline goes on to raise Phoebe, but she soon realizes that she can't let Phoebe go off on her own in fear of her getting hurt. Their lives were once normal, but later became twisted and turned through tough decisions, love, and grief. The Memory Keeper's Daughter travels back in time to 1964 into a young married couple's life, and a lonely nurse's life with them trying to get through tough times. Kim Edwards wrote this book with extraordinary passion and phenomenal detail. Each page flipped is packed with immense power and excellent beauty. Edwards shows her heart and sympathy through this book, and every detail describes the sympathy and passion she has for writing. The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a marvelous book, and I don't regret picking it up. As soon as I read the first page, I knew that this book was going to be great. I didn't want to put it down, and I would read this book again. This book brought me into the story as if I was there with it's mesmerizing details. I could picture everything that went on, and the book didn't slow down one bit. I would recommend The Memory Keeper's Daughter to people with a real love for passion, sympathy, and wisdom. People who like books filled with detail and compassion would really love this book.
    • 4/5
      It was surprising to me that a book in which a main character has Down Syndrome would misspell the name of this condition. That sort of sets the tone - it is beautifully written for the most part, but doesn't seem plugged in to how real people feel and act. At first, I found it to be a compelling read, but then it became sort of a slog as we had to check in with these unhappy people every few years while we waited to find out how the inevitable Big Reveal would come down.
    • 4/5
      From the book cover:
      "This stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down syndrome. For motives he tells himself are good, he makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever. He asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child as her own."

      I loved this book. The characters seemed so real to me. The story is told in a parallel way. The one side is Dr. Henry's side. We see how he struggles with his guilt over letting his daughter go and the lie he has told his wife, and later his son. We see how Dr. Henry's wife, Norah, deals with the grief of a dead child. We see how the secret has built walls between them and led to more secrets. We get another view of this from Paul, their son as well. In the other parallel, we follow Caroline as she struggles to take care of not only a baby, but one with a condition that, at the time, gives very little hope for the girl's survival. We see how she struggles to get equal rights for Phoebe, such as a public education and the chance to live a normal life.

      As stated, I loved it. It was very well written and managed to let me somewhat feel what the characters were going through. The entire time I kept wondering if David would one day tell Norah and Paul the truth or if it would never come to light. Would he one day want to see Phoebe? What would happen if/when Norah and Paul learned that Phoebe was alive and happy? Totally well worth the read and I highly recommend it.
    • 2/5
      Cloying, cliche-riddled, gag inducing drivel
    • 2/5
      Rather disappointing, really.
    • 4/5
      This storyline is about a secret; a terrible, life-altering secret that is kept for more than 25 years. The revealing of the secret is actually freeing for those who are involved. The story begins in 1964 when Dr. David Henry delivers his own babies due to a snowstorm. The son is a normal baby boy; the girl has Down's Syndrome. While the wife is still "out" he instructs his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby girl to an institution, as back in the 1960's most Down's Syndrome children did not have a long life span. He did this with the best of intentions. He had a mentally retarded sister who died at age 13 and his mother never recovered.
    • 4/5
      This is a story about how the choices one makes in a split second can affect you and everyone around you for years to come. Dr. David Henry has to choose between his Down Syndrome baby daughter and his wife and "normal" son or he thinks he has to. His son and daughter are twins, born in Dr. Henry's office with only his nurse in attendance. Dr. Henry chooses to send the baby girl off with his nurse to be given to an institution and he tells his wife that the daughter was born dead. The nurse, Caroline, decides that the institution is no place for the girl to be raised and she decides to go away and raise Phoebe as her own daughter. Even though his wife and son don't know that Phoebe is alive, they sense that there is something missing in their life and the family disintegrates bit by bit. Caroline, on the other hand, is strengthened by her decision and makes enduring friendships as a result. My rating of this story would probably have been even higher if I could have accepted the beginning as plausible. The book raises important questions about how society views people with mental challenges. And it raises even more important issues about interpersonal relationships. My book club thought it was well-written although we all had problems with the beginning. If you can suspend your judgment of the implausibility of the critical scene at the beginning, you will find this an engaging read.
    • 4/5
      excellent story
    • 5/5
      I had a nifty book review written for this one and my Internet cut out just as it was submitted (grumble...grumble...grumble), so since it is now almost 3am, I'll rewrite it tomorrow. In the meantime, this was a good book, and yes, I recommend it.
    • 4/5
      This was a compelling and beautifully told story, with lots of twists and discoveries. I enjoyed it very much.
    • 2/5
      I listened to the audio book while driving, and didn't give up on it, because I really wanted to know how the secret would be revealed finally.

      And I was disappointed.

      The secret (kind of a spoiler, although it's on the book jacket) is that twins Paul and Phoebe have been separated at birth. Both Paul and his mother Norah think she is dead.

      I liked the story of Phoebe and Caroline, the woman who raises her, but I found Norah and Paul to be insufferable. Paul is the "normal" one of the twins; Phoebe has Down syndrome. Paul is bland and passive.

      The writing style is overly flowery and tiresome. There's no rise and fall of a climax. I felt no emotional connection to the major events in the characters' lives. It's all so very ho-hum.

    • 2/5
      The story of Norah and David Henry begins in the early 60's with so much promise. Norah and David, a young doctor with dreams to cure and change the world, are expecting their first child. As fate would have it, Norah goes into labor early on a cold and snowy night. Unfortunately, with the blizzard raging, the roads are icy and dangerous and Norah's attending doctor has an accident and drives his car into a ditch and is unable to make it to the delivery. David is left to deal with the crisis alone and calls his nurse to assist in the middle of this blizzard. The nurse, Caroline Gill, is very much in love with David Henry and has based her love for him on one lingering look shared between the two of them during regular office hours. Caroline is a peculiar woman. Quiet. Reserved. Waiting to begin a life that she has envisioned for herself. She had fallen in love with David when she first saw him and began working in the office. David, however untimely for Caroline, met Norah and fell in love and Norah and David married. Caroline contains her love for David rather obsessively and from that once shared lingering look, believes that David Henry may have feelings for her. But for Norah.

      Cut to scene in office on night of blizzard. David and Caroline are delivering David and Norah's child. Norah is given gas and is kind of in and out but aware of events. David delivers a healthy son and is in shock to discover that a twin is also to be born minutes later. Norah is shown the son she has given David and is given gas when complications arise during the birth of the twin.

      From here, the story takes a very dark turn. David loves his wife and wants to protect her from unseen pain and heartache. David has demons from the past and because he knows of suffering and pain he does not want his young family to suffer the same fate. His intentions are good but miscalculating. Surely, David did not think his decisions through. Caroline, being so in love with David, goes along with David's heartbreaking decisions on this fateful night. Caroline believes that David will come to his senses and change his mind. Caroline does as David requests but makes decisions of her own.
      David Henry has just altered the course of every life involved in this story. His life will now be filled with a huge void and many lies. There is no turning back. Caroline Gill has forever altered these same lives, most importantly, her own. Caroline will suddenly disappear.

      It is heartbreaking to read how this story unfolds. David and Norah Henry, once so promising, are now consumed with grief and emotional walls that leave David to base his entire life on one lie after another. Norah is left empty and hollow and searching for something within her life. David searches for himself and others in photography, hoping to recapture meaning and growth along the way. Caroline is longing to find roots and happiness and someone to really love and see the real Caroline.

      Over 25 years, one family is building. One family is tumbling towards complete destruction. Both are keeping secrets and making memories that will haunt those involved.

      I give one a simple review. Nothing too preachy and filled with intellectual mumble-jumble. Ya' just want a review, right? OK. That said, I had originally given this book 3 stars but then I had to come back and edit those stars to 2 because I felt 3 was too generous. What started out to be a really interesting read became dull, repetitive and depressing. Did I say depressing? I had zero sympathy for ANY of the characters and I even despised a couple of them. I should have FELT something when I read this. Again, it starts off well. I really thought I had chose a great book. Once the chapters began to add up, so did my boredom. Instead of racing to the end to find out what happens next I was just hoping to finish with this dull,lifeless book.
    • 3/5
      At the outset, I really enjoyed this book. I was sucked into the premise, and I could see that it had a lot of potential to be an incredible book. But somewhere along the way, Edwards dropped the ball.
      For me, the most disconcerting thing about this novel was the characterization. After nearly an entire book filled with page after page of these characters' thoughts, emotions, inner struggles, etc., you would think the characters themselves would be leaping off the page at you. But about 3/4 of the way through the book, I suddenly realized I didn't know Norah at all. The young wife from the beginning transformed into this assured, powerful woman so suddenly that her character just didn't make sense. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn't really know any of the characters. Although you spend so much time inside the heads of these characters, all the little details don't quite add up into a believable whole.
      The premise and the plot were very well-conceived, although it could move a bit slowly at times. I can see that Edwards is creating a study on the way lies can form and break relationships and lives, and there are some beautiful passages and some great truths to be found here. But after finishing it, my first though of ..."Eh. That wasn't bad," told me that Edwards could have done something more with this novel.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It was shocking at points, sweet, tender, horrific. Beautiful. I don't really know what more to say about it. Worth the read and I will be passing it on to others.
    • 5/5
      A sad tale of what happens when someone lies...Dr. Henry gives his nurse his Down's syndrome newborn daughter, telling her to take Phoebe to an institution, and tells his wife that the other twin died. Despite having a healthy son, his wife mourns her daughter. From that moment on, Kim Edwards documents their downward spiral. Meanwhile, the nurse decides to raise Phoebe as her own. Twenty-five years of miscommunication, sadness interspersed with some happiness and more make this a must-read novel.
    • 3/5
      Set between 1964 and 1989, between Lexington, KY and Pittsburgh, PA, this story is about the futility of trying to control life. The reader is witness to the outcomes set in motion after the birth of twins on a snowy night by a man who wanted to protect himself and his family, albeit by lying. As tends to be true, one lie begets another, and the game is on. The storyline was interesting. The characters were interesting. The writing was fair. The story dragged quite a bit in the middle, otherwise this novel may have merited 4 stars. The author's treatment of issues surrounding grief and the evolution of attitudes and options for folks with Down's Syndrome were handled very well. I hope this author works on her pacing a bit in the next novel.
    • 2/5
      I. Did not enjoy this book at all. I thought it was trite, uninspired, insipid and disappointing.
    • 5/5
      A haunting story of how one bad choice can ruin a marriage, a family, and all connected lives. If nothing else, this story will leave you with a renewed realization to be honest and have courage in facing the unexpected. And, to have faith in those you love to be able to do the same.
    • 2/5
      Great premise and decent writing, but there were some seriously trite, cliched characters and situations in here. Also, the need to have EVERY female character end the book in a marriage to her Own True Love was just irritating.
    • 4/5
      11 hours of listening. This is a story about a family secret that begins in 1964 and is kept for 25 years. Doctor David Henry's wife goes into labor during a blizzard and he is forced to deliver his own twins. One of them is a girl with Down's Syndrome, and the other is a perfect boy. He makes a split second decision to "protect " his wife and has the Down's Syndorme child whisked off and sent to a home, instituation, by way of his nurse who is asked to keep the secret. The nurse, who is secretly in love with the doctor, decides she can't give the baby away and decides to keep her. Caroline, the nurse disappears to another city and raises the child. This stroy has beautiful imagery that creates the movie a good book should do. Martha Plimpton did a fabulous job of creating the vocal characters. The only down side to this story, in my opinion, is the detailed imagery slowed the pace of the story where I found myself wanting to "move on already". This may be a symptom of my intellectual shortcomings and not a problem with the book.
    • 2/5
      This was a little hard to get into, but I liked it in the end. I guess. :D
    • 3/5
      The beginning and the ending move quickly, but the middle is a bit slow. Some beautiful passages though!
    • 5/5
      The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a brilliantly crafted novel of parallel lives, familial secrets, and the redemptive power of love Kim Edwards's stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964 in Lexington, Kentucky, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down 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, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself. So begins this beautifully told 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 winter night long ago. A family drama, The Memory Keeper's Daughter explores every mother's silent fear: What would happen if you lost your child and she grew up without you? It is also an astonishing tale of love and how the mysterious ties that hold a family together help us survive the heartache that occurs when long-buried secrets are finally uncovered.
    • 3/5
      Hasty decision with ramifications. Slow start, good middle. Not real good research in my opinion. The memory keeper is the name of a camera.
    • 4/5
      Slow to get into this story--it felt so old-fashioned, or maybe it's just my distaste for June Cleaver type women--but I persisted and found myself drawn into the hidden pain of David's life. Norah's angry distancing was understandable but harder to sympathize with. How one secret leads to more, leads to walls and loneliness. David was a man of secrets--even before his disastrous lie about Phoebe he had hidden his impoverished past from his wife, leaving her unaware of what motivated him to work so hard as a doctor.Caroline's determination to help Phoebe learn, albeit at a slower pace, is awe-inspiring and made me wonder who were the women who fought for changes in the school system and fair treatment of handicapped children.Many lyrical descriptive passages in this book, which made me read frustratingly slower than I normally do. I'm afraid I didn't give them the attention they deserve.One memorable quote "You can't stop time...You can't captue light. You can only turn your face up and let it rain down.: (p. 319)