A #1 New York Times bestseller by Kim Edwards, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is a brilliantly crafted novel of parallel lives, familial secrets, and the redemptive power of love Kim Edwards’s stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964 in Lexington, Kentucky, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down 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, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. 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 the fateful decision made that winter night long ago. A family drama, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter explores every mother's silent fear: What would happen if you lost your child and she grew up without you? It is also an astonishing tale of love and how the mysterious ties that hold a family together help us survive the heartache that occurs when long-buried secrets are finally uncovered. Critics roundly applaud Kim Edwards’s debut novel, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter , which plays into one of our largest fears: What happens when a baby is born with Down syndrome? Edwards, an award-winning short-story writer, extends this question even further: What happens if this baby somehow "disappears" without the mother’s knowledge? The Memory Keeper’s Daughter explores deception, family secrets, the influence of the past on the present, our tendency to rationalize poor decisions, and the tenuous nature of human connections. In her sympathetic rendering of parallel stories, Edwards crafts a riveting "study in what really determines a family’s happiness" ( Washington Post ). Critics praised Edwards’s prose, which "takes on the cadence of poetry" as she describes her psychologically burdened characters ( Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ). Yet while the Chicago Tribune admired the absence of "sticky-sweet" moments, the Washington Post noted a few times when Edwards slipped "into the treacly trade." But if these minor flaws, combined with abrupt transitions, sometimes slow down the narrative, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter packs a hefty emotional punch that will keep readers turning the pages. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. “Edwards is a born novelist.... The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is rich with psychological detail and the nuances of human connection. [An] extraordinary debut.” – Chicago Tribune “Anyone would be struck by the extraordinary power and sympathy of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter .” – The Washington Post   “Absolutely mesmerizing.” – Sue Monk Kidd   “Kim Edwards has created a tale of regret and redemption... you have to reread the passages just to be captivated all over again . . .  simply a beautiful book.” – Jodi Picoult   “Kim Edwards writes with great wisdom and compassion.... This is a wonderful, heartbreaking, heart-healing novel.” – Luanne Rice   “A heart-wrenching book, by turns light and dark, literary and suspenseful.” – Library Journal     “A gripping novel, beautifully written.” – Ursula Hegi  “Gripping from its start. Highly accomplished.” – The Guardian (UK)   “A remarkable achievement. [Kim Edwards has] clearly hit a nerve.” – The Independent (UK)   “Masterfully written…a compelling story that explores universal themes: the secrets we harbor, even from those we love; our ability to rationalize all manner of lies; and our fear that there will always be something unknowable about the people we love most.” – The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette    “I devoured it.” – Sena Jeter Naslund A READING GROUP GUIDE TO THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER Kim Edwards 1. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is a powerful combination of a tragic and poignant family story as well as riveting page-turner, due primarily to the fact that it centers on such a shocking act by one individual that affects everyone he cares about. How did the idea for this novel come to you? A few months after my story collection, The Secrets of a Fire King was published, one of the pastors of the Presbyterian church I’d recently joined said she had a story to give me. I was pleased that she’d thought of me, if a bit surprised—I was back in church after a 20-some year absence, and still quite skeptical of it all. Yet even to my critical eye it was clear that good things were happening: the congregation was vibrant and progressive and engaged; the co-pastors, a married couple who had both once been university professors, gave sermons that were beautifully crafted and thought-provoking, both intellectual and heartfelt. I’d already come to admire them very much. Still, it happens fairly ofte