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 daugher is born, he sees immediately that she has Downs Syndrome. Rationalizing is 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 reveal the secret. But Caroline cannot leave the infant. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself. So begins this beautifully old story that unfolds over 25 years in which these two families, ignorant of each other, are yet bound by David Henry’s fateful decision that long-ago winter night.
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter captures 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. It is an astonishing novel of redemptive love.
