The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

By Kim Edwards

This is a book (along with The Time Traveler’s Wife) I wanted to read for a long time but apparently kept forgetting during my every bookshop visit. Accidently I found this book on sale while billing for another book (Angels of Destruction). As one can imagine, I ignored the other book and started this book with a lot of expectation. Well, it didn’t quite live up to my expectation but it sure did justice.

The story opens with a heartwarming scene of a husband cajoling his pregnant wife, who end up rushing to a clinic on a stormy night for labor. The haphazard snow makes the husband David Henry to deliver the twins in his clinic with the help of nurse Caroline Gill. Paul, the perfect healthy kid could content his father only for a short while until his sister Phoebe drives her father to abandon her for Down’s Syndrome. Caroline, on David’s decision, takes Phoebe to a home meant for special kids. Caroline takes Phoebe with her seeing the appalling conditions of the home. She hopes that David might change his mind and come back for Phoebe one day.

Norah couldn’t cope up with the death of her daughter and soon finds refuge in drinking. David decided to give up Phoebe to spare Norah of the hurt that his mother went through while losing his sister June for the same illness. Distressed by Norah’s increasing remoteness and guilt for giving up Phoebe, David engrosses into Photography. Caroline now and then sends photos of Phoebe to David, who hides them in his Photo lab. Meanwhile, Paul grows into a stubborn child torn between his separating parents and Phoebe into a cheerful child. Caroline marries Al, a truck driver she met serendipitously and overcomes her secret love for David.

David and Norah get divorced while Caroline and Al spend a pleasant life together. The last days of David are spent with regret and guilt and the secret of Phoebe dies with him. The rest of the story goes on about the mishaps of the torn lives.

The story started well and went well until some point where it felt like being rushed and out of focus. Norah’s ‘out of the blue’ character is unbelievable and impractical. The story of June and David’s poor family was interesting but the later part where he finds Rosemary was uninspiring. The comfort that he is portrayed to achieve with rising Rosemary doesn’t quite compensate for his lost love for Phoebe and June. 

Though David seems rigid, I liked his character masked by richness over his humble and poor self. His miseries seem just because of miscalculation and not because of his bad character. Caroline’s character deserves mentioning for the straight forwardness and no-nonsense behavior. The story could have elaborated much more about Paul and Phoebe. It would make more sense if there is much to explain us about Down’s Syndrome.

For the familial turmoil and the heartbreaking emotions, TMKD can be read once.