The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Although not a list text, this was a book that I had seen around a lot and heard good things about. So when a friend lent it to me, I put it on the reading pile which Rushdie has been severely holding up.

This was an enjoyable read, and certainly not as dense as the Rushdie (even though I enjoyed that too). It surrounds a young doctor (David Henry) and his beautiful wife Norah and begins on the night she gives birth to twins. The boy is healthy and strong, but the girl has Downs Syndrome.

It’s set in the sixties, when such children were carted off to institutions – so we can sort of understand why the doctor’s first reaction is to do this. The problem is, he never tells his wife who believes the baby has died.

Enter Caroline Gill – a trusted nurse who just happens to be in love with Dr Henry. She takes the baby to the facility, and decides she cannot leave her there.

Ultimately the text is all about what makes us do the things we do, and all the characters lives and motives are more complicated than you can imagine. But it is a satisfying read, which refuses to be boxed into stereotypes. Worth reading.