The Memory Keeper - by Kim Edwards

I just finished readying "The Memory Keeper." It's the story about a physician and his wife, beginning in 1964. They're trapped in a blizzard, the wife is pregnant, and the husband must deliver the baby at his office. Turns out it's twins (boy/girl), but the girl has Down's Syndrome. Without telling his wife, the husband gives the baby to the nurse to bring to an institution, but instead, the nurse runs away with the baby and raises her as her own. The husband tells his wife the girl twin died at birth.

Because of losses he experienced in his own childhood, the husband thought he'd be saving his wife a lifetime of grief by giving the baby away. What happens instead is a lifetime of grief of a different kind for the whole family that the husband hadn't envisioned.

I'd seen this book advertised quite a bit, so I had high hopes for it. I must say I enjoyed the book and read it quickly. I found some of the characters particularly interesting, and so was motivated to keep reading to get to more of those characters' chapters. However, while I would recommend this book, it did fall short of being entirely compelling and as richly complex as I was anticipating.

Jane