
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
8 journalers for this copy...

From the Publisher
Award-winning writer Kim Edwards's The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a brilliantly crafted family drama that explores every mother's silent fear: what would happen if you lost your child and she grew up without you?
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 David Henry's fateful decision that long-ago winter night.
A rich and deeply moving page-turner, 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 tale of redemptive love.
Award-winning writer Kim Edwards's The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a brilliantly crafted family drama that explores every mother's silent fear: what would happen if you lost your child and she grew up without you?
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 David Henry's fateful decision that long-ago winter night.
A rich and deeply moving page-turner, 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 tale of redemptive love.

An amazing book with beautiful description and well-developed characters. Surprises and interesting twists and turns throughout!

Journal Entry 3 by shellheap at by mail in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Released 18 yrs ago (9/26/2006 UTC) at by mail in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
Sent to KarenZero. Enjoy!
Sent to KarenZero. Enjoy!

Wow, that was fast! It arrived in this morning's mail. I am looking forward to reading this one, as I've heard it is good (a random lady on Amtrak even had to tell me how good it was!). I hope it lives up to the hype! Thanks for sharing the book, Shellheap!

I enjoyed it a lot! I don't really know what to say beyond that, haha. I will send it off to the next reader shortly. Thanks for sharing, shellheap!

Journal Entry 6 by KarenZero at Controlled Release in Controlled Release, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases on Friday, October 13, 2006
Released 18 yrs ago (10/13/2006 UTC) at Controlled Release in Controlled Release, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
On to the next reader! Sorry for the delay!
On to the next reader! Sorry for the delay!

Received it safe and sound.

I can't say that I was "blown away" by this book. I loved the story and the whole idea. I also liked the way the book was organized. However, I found it somewhat dragging at times. It seemed like the author didn't really know where the story is going to, but kept on writing anyway. I do have to give him credit for writing so beautifully, but I think that this story was too "small" to really show off his style. Maybe if it was a family-saga-type-of-book, with plenty of characters, with generations to cover, then the author could really shine. In this book, however, there was no space for it. And it looks like the story suffered for it. A lot of time was spent describing flowers, smells and scents, but at the same time, major events like marriages and deaths were mentioned only briefly. That did not really make sense to me.
Thank you for including me in this ring. Despite all my comments, I will give Kim Edwards another chance.
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Waiting for an address from the next participant. Will mail the book as soon as I know where to. :)
11/08/06 - Mailed the book to the next person on the list.
Thank you for including me in this ring. Despite all my comments, I will give Kim Edwards another chance.
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Waiting for an address from the next participant. Will mail the book as soon as I know where to. :)
11/08/06 - Mailed the book to the next person on the list.

Received this in the mail today. Will read this book next then send on to the next person. Thanks so much.

An interesting story, though it was predictable at times. I sent it off this morning to ArtisticAlias.
Thanks for including me in the ring!!!
Thanks for including me in the ring!!!

Received this book while I was unavoidably offline. Have begun reading already and will pass along to the next person as soon as I'm done. Sorry for the long silence.

I'll read this as soon as I'm done with my other book ray book! Thanks ArtisticAlias! And don't worry at all about the timing. I totally forgot I was even waiting for this book. No need to send me another. : ) How do I know where to send this when I'm done? I don't see a list here.

Well, like shpriz1, I loved the story, just didn't love the writing style. The flowery descriptions really started to bug me at times. But I couldn't wait to see what would happen so I did enjoy the book. Don't think I'll run out and get another Kim Edwards book though! Sending to knitwit soon!

Well knitwit has already read the book and so has the next person on the list, so I'm sending to BarterHordes!

The book has safely arrived in NC. I'll finish the one I'm currently reading and then tackle this next. I leave Saturday for 9 days in Italy and Greece so I may well be taking it with me as my travel read. I'll journal again when I finish it. Thanks for sharing it.

Just received in today's frozen mailbox. I will thaw it up with a thorough read. I'm planning on taking this along as my "backpack read" until I finish it. Thanks, all!