Guide Note

The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a New York Times Bestseller by American Kim Edwards. Published by Viking Press in June 2005, the novel gained widespread attention during through word of mouth support.

Fast Facts

1. Author: Kim Edwards
2. Publication: June 2005
3. Pages: 401 (paperback edition)
4. ISBN: 0-14-303714-5
5. Publisher: Viking Press, Penguin Books, Doubleday Dell
6. New York Times Bestseller
7. Author's first novel

Synopsis

From Penguin Books: "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."