The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

The stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964 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.For motives he tells himself are good,he makes a slit-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever.

This novel shows the perspectives of the main characters,displaying how they grow and change throughout the years. The story revolves around a secret that creates a distance between David Henry and his wife Norah Henry. When Phoebe,their biological daughter is born,David makes the decision to give her up by placing her in the hands of a nurse by the name of Caroline Gill,intending for Caroline to leave the baby at an institution he recommended. 

David lies to Norah and says the baby died due to unknown reasons. 

Caroline travels to the institution and realises how terrible the place is,so she simply takes the baby in her own care. She then falls in love with a guy named Albert Simpson. They eventually get married,living with their non-biological daughter Phoebe,causing the story to converge into two different families.It was pretty unexpected.At the start of the story it seemed the Henry family would lead a happier life and Caroline Gill would perhaps lead the opposite. It was more the other way around for them.

For more than two decades,the secret had been hidden from Norah and her son Paul. This secret kept loss and grief in the family. During the story,each main character goes through devastating issues. In the end,hope starts to appear. 

The Memory Keeper's Daughter was beautifully written and slowly thought through. It was heart-wrenching and caused a sense of the fact that people can get severely hurt in their life no matter how rich or poor they are,no matter how gorgeous or terrible their lifestyle may look-disaster is lurking in the corner ready to burst. It was an eye opener really. This novel may seem sad but there were many moments of happiness and appreciation.I couldn't put the book down,I just wanted to keep reading till the end because there was always something interesting happening in each chapter. A wonderful story,a must read.