The Memory Keeper's Daughter

The Memory Keeper's Daughter (2005) by Kim Edwards. Dr. David Henry and his wife, Norah, are caught in a blizzard as she goes into labor. They can't make it to the hospital, so they stop at his clinic, where they are met by his nurse, Caroline Gill. Dr. Henry performs the delivery himself, and twins are born. But to the doctor's dismay, one of the twins -- a girl -- has Down syndrome. In a split second, he makes the decision to have the nurse take his daughter away to a home "for the feeble-minded." He tells his wife, who was anesthetized, that the girl was born dead. Thus is born a lie which lasts a quarter century and gradually tears a family apart. It's a poignant, moving and fascinating story. Grade: A