2. The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards is a dramatic novel which tells the story of a doctor, David Henry and
how his family and a close colleague are affected over a the span of 25 years by the patriarch’s early decision to lie
about the death of his twin daughter to his wife, Nora, after he realizes the baby has Down’s Syndrome when he
delivers her along with his son, Paul. He gives her away to his nurse, Caroline, to put in a institution, but she decides
instead, to raises her as her own, naming her Phoebe, and helps her overcome the difficulties of her disability as she,
grows up.
David and his family become torn apart by the lie; Nora continues to have a hard time moving on from the pain of
losing her daughter as the years pass, and even at times feels as if Phoebe is still nearby. She and David grow more
distant and their marriage suffers, with Nora pulling away into affairs and a new career. He and Paul’s relationship also
is strained and distant because of his guilt over giving his sister away, and Paul struggles over finding his father’s
approval when it comes to his musical talents. David eventually becomes obsessed with taking photo’s after receiving a
camera from Nora in a box labeled “the Memory Keeper”, even becoming very successful and popular with his work.
He also attempts to absolve his guilt towards his own family by mentoring a pregnant teen, named Rosemary ,after
finding her in his abandoned childhood home. Rosemary is the only one he tells his secret to, besides Caroline, and she
encourages him to tell Norah the truth. He never does, however, and eventually he and Nora separate with David later
dying while still holding the secret after over twenty years.
Caroline takes Phoebe and settles in Pennsylvania with her; she settles into a house and a job taking care of an old man
for his daughter. Eventually she marries a man named Al whom Phoebe thinks of as her father. Caroline works with
many special programs for children with Down’s Syndrome and advocates passionately to obtain educational rights for
Phoebe and others. She sends David letters and photos of Phoebe, which he hides away, but remains cautious out of
fear he’ll want to take her back. After Phoebe grows up to become a sociable and functionally independent person
with her own ambitions of having a family, Caroline finally reveals the truth to Norah and introduces Phoebe to Norah
and Paul. Though, while she still thinks of Norah and Al as her parents, Phoebe finally develops a relationship with
Norah and her brother. Norah and Paul decide to forgive David and began to heal emotionally with their newfound
happiness.

3. • The very different attitudes of the day towards disability and mental care very
much drive many parts in the story. When Phoebe is born, even her doctor father
refers to her as a “mongoloid” and falsely assumes she will be chronically ill with
heart problems and not live too long. So, he sadly makes the decision that many
ill-informed parents of the time did to send her to a mental institution.
• When Norah suffers from post-natal depression following what she thinks is the
death of her daughter, she finds that the fellow house wife friends in her sewing
circle are unsupportive. They act awkward around her and imply she should be
grateful “for the baby she has” when she gets upset about the lost twin. Depression
was not seen in the 60’s as something that needed any extra medical assistance and
should be willed out of.
• While raising Phoebe, Caroline has confidence in Phoebe’s potential for learning.
She meets another friend, named Sandra, who’s child also has Down’s syndrome
and together they work to patiently improve on their children’s learning and
coordination, in spite them being slower than average children. Their methods are
described as “a lot of it was simple common sense. If Phoebe needed to roll over,
put a bright ball just out of her reach; if Tim needed to work on coordination, give
him blunt scissors and bright paper and let him cut. The, progress was slow,
sometimes invisible”.
• Later, by the time Phoebe is six, Caroline manages to get her enrolled into a
preschool where she fits in well with the other students without them noticing
she’s different. Phoebe, at this stage in school, is described as someone who may
“struggle more, go slower, but like any child she’d learn.” Caroline must endure
treatment of pity by other parents and rude comments from them that Phoebe
won’t be around long, but she works to encourage awareness and understanding
among the parents and teachers.

4. • Caroline and Sandra start a political advocacy group for parents of Down’s students
called the Upside Down Society. The membership of the group grows to over 500
members. Though the school board is initially reluctant to allow students with mental
retardation in, stating that they would distract funds from “brighter children” and that
children like Phoebe would be better off learning a trade, Caroline eventually wins the
fight and Phoebe goes to public school with the other kids.
• By the time Phoebe is 13, she is high functioning but “still impulsive and impassioned,
slow to learn but moving from joy to pensiveness to sadness and back to joy with
astonishing speed”. She has to be instructed in certain things like only hugging people
she knows, and a major safety incident occurs where she must be pulled out of a pipe
filing with water. But, in spite of these challenges, Phoebe is happy in school, excels at
weaving and has a talent for singing. With her simple outlook in life, she happily takes
everything for what it is and does not get focused on or get deterred from set backs, nor
does she notice that people get uncomfortable around her. Caroline is still unsure,
though of what Phoebe will do for work and other independent actions when she is
older.
• When Phoebe reaches her twenties and she embraces more independence, she gets a job
and applies to live in a room by herself at the special needs center. She also begins to
discover relationships and sexuality when she falls in love with another special needs boy
named Robert. Phoebe begins to really want to move out to get married to Robert and
start a family of her own, but in spite of the work she did to remove limitations placed
on Phoebe by society, Caroline is afraid to let her leave. There is an incident that
frightens her when a man tries to get Phoebe to come to his apartment while she was
riding the bus to work by herself. She encourages Phoebe to use a “secret word” to know
if she can trust somebody if they know it too, and begins driving Phoebe to work.
However, after Phoebe and Robert take the bus by themselves to buy roses, Caroline
begins to consider letting her move towards independence and sets up money for her to
be able to so in the future. After Phoebe meets Norah and Paul, they are instantly
charmed by her lovable personality. Phoebe is easily accepting of the situation, though
she does not want to live with them, and begins to become close to them.