The Memory Keeper's Daughter

There's been a lot of buzz about this book lately--particularly about how in hardcover it didn't sell so well but now that it's in paperback it's getting picked up for book clubs and people are really talking about it.

Having read it, I must say the buzz is well-deserved. You should go and read this!

Not only because the story touches two things close to my consciousness at almost every moment of the day: special needs and giving a child away. The story is wonderfully written. I became attached to each character--even to the "bad guy", David Henry, who ultimately proves to be just human.

David Henry delivers his own twins and finds that while the first, Paul, is perfectly healthy, his sister Phoebe has Down's Syndrome. Dr. Henry decides to spare his family what he believes to be inevitable grief and despair (believing that almost all DS babies don't live very long) and asks his nurse to take Phoebe to an institution. His nurse, Caroline, decides to keep Phoebe for herself.

The story follows the Henrys and Caroline and Phoebe over the next 20+ years. Most of the story is about how secrets destroy families, but there is also a lot about love and grace.