Product Description

The second highest selling novel through Bookscan in 2007, selling over 700,000 copies in the UK alone

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #753 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Review
'Crafted with language so lovely you have to reread the passages just to be captivated all over again ... this is simply a beautiful book' Jodi Picoult 'I loved this riveting story with its intricate characters and beautiful language' - Sue Monk Kidd, author of the best-selling, The Secret Life of Bees

Easy Living
"The Memory Keeper's Daughter is an enthralling novel about the
deepest secrets that can never stay hidden."

Daily Mail
"A strong and moving story. It's easy to see how it gained its
place on the U.S. besteller lists."

Customer Reviews

It left me feeling queasy.
"The Memory Keeper's Daughter" opens in March 1964, with Dr David Henry and his wife, Norah, soon to become parents. The couple, who live in Kentucky, had only met about a year previously - but were married within three months and quite clearly didn't hang about when it came to starting a family. Unfortunately, with a blizzard raging outside, Norah goes into labour - three weeks ahead of schedule. The couple manage to make it as far as David's own clinic - where David and one of his nurses, Caroline Gill, look after the delivery. However, where one child had been expected, two arrive - Paul, a perfectly healthy son, and Phoebe, who has Down's Syndrome. David's sister, June, had died when she was twelve due to a heart problem, and he is convinced his daughter's life will also be short. Remembering how June's death had broken his mother's heart, he decides to try and spare Norah the same grief. He hands his daughter to Caroline, and instructs her to bring Phoebe to an institution he knows of. She sets out to do as she's asked - but, on seeing the institution, she can't leave the newborn girl there. Instead, she does a runner to Pittsburgh and decides to raise Phoebe as her own daughter. "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" tells the story of both families - alternating between David, Norah and Paul on one side and Caroline and Phoebe on the other.

I have never had so much difficulty in getting through a book - but, if only I had read the blurb, I'd have known to avoid it like the plague. "A tale of regret and redemption...so lovely you have to re-read", Jodi Picoult comments, while Sue Monk Kidd warbles about "the entangled lives to two families and the devastating secret that shapes them both". The writing inside is even worse - page after page of nauseating froth. Handled properly, the story could well have been worth reading...but Edwards could only come up with genuinely awful cliches. If lines like "it was a moment real to only the two of them...an instant of communion" and "he says he's most alive when he's playing the guitar" sound like your idea of good time, you're in for a ball - otherwise, keep well away.

Hmmm....
I know this has had mixed reviews, and I can understand that some people found it quite slow moving but I personally quite enjoyed the book. The style is a bit different and so is the subject matter - which is refreshing. It does seem to plod along at times, hence I have only given it three stars, but overall whilst I wouldn't recommend you rush out and buy it I would say it's a worthy read if someone lends you a copy/you find it in your local library.

Misleading title
The title and description of the book lead me to believe that the story would focus mainly on the Phoebe, which is what lead me to read this book. I thought reading about the challenges that she faced in everyday life would have made a very interseting story. However, the book does not really focus on Phoebe at all, it focuses on David, Nora and Paul. Yet, the challenges of their lives and the parts which I wanted to read more on were skimmed over. We never really get to know the characters as 25 years is skimmed over in 400 pages with not enough detail on the more interesting aspects of the plot. I would still recommend this book as a light read as it is an interesting idea and still made me think about how a disability affects the family and not just the person but would advise people not to listen to the hype - if they do they will be disapointed