[178] The Memory Keeper’s Daughter – Kim Edwards

“He considered what he’d said to Paul—that the world was made of hidden things, of secrets; built of bones that never saw the lights.” [202]

This novel lives up to how a split-second decision, preserved by secrets, leads to separate lives. It is 1964 in Lexington, Kentucky. Dr. David Henry McCallister is determined to rush his wife, Norah, to the hospital in time to deliver their first child. The rare and sudden storm, which ensues treacherous road condition, dictates his diversion to his clinic where he will deliver the baby himself. After the baby boy emerges from the womb, barely having time for relief, Norah is suddenly tightened by another contraction. No matter how scrupulously David has followed the medical steps he knows by heart, he cannot ameliorate the signs of Down syndrome in the forthcoming baby girl.

In a split second as if a reflex, David, reflecting upon the painful loss of his sister who died of a heart condition, decides to discard the baby. He lies to his wife that the baby girl has died at birth in order to spare her what he sees as a life of grief. Instead of dropping little Phoebe at an institution as instructed by the doctor, the 31-year-old nurse Caroline Gill has an impulse to keep the baby and raise her as her own, although it isn’t an uncommon practice to dump babies stricken by Down syndrome at the asylum. She has fought so many battles to make a life for Phoebe in this indifferent world.

As much as Phoebe has endowed meaning to Caroline’s life, her abandonment, and that David has kept it a secret from his wife, has taken a toll on his marriage. He has grown distant and mysterious to his wife, who turns to an all-consuming career and seeks the intimacy that eludes her with her husband through a series of affairs. Paul grows to be a young musician who plays out of anger and frustration, longing to make connection to a joyless father who doesn’t seem to care. David bears it all himself: regret, grief, and guilt.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, as it turns out, only dabbles at Down syndrome and how it impedes Phoebe’s life although it lingers not too far below the surface. The book explores the unexpected impact of unresolved grief. David’s own grief at the loss of his sister, still raw and painful, causes him to take control of his life. But that his daughter was born with Down syndrome was not something that he could anticipate, let alone to control. The outcome is a secret that stands in the middle of the family and a lie that shapes their lives together. The story is well-written, if a tad predictable. 401 pages. [Read/Skim/Toss]