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By Kim Edwards
About | Buying
Book Review by Deborah Rath
 Book Review by Deborah Rath
Well, I must say, now I even have my mother reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter", and she, like every other person I've talked to, says "I can NOT put this book down....I HAVE to see what happens to these people!"
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Praise for THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER
“Anyone would be struck by the extraordinary power and sympathy of THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER .
-The Washington Post
Edwards, the author of a short-story collection and the winner of a Nelson Algren Award is a born novelist. From the riveting depiction of the twins' birth, which opens the book, she sustains suspense through 400 pages of compelling prose, consistent characterization and a plot that is poignant without being preachy or sticky-sweet. THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER is a paean to such persistence and power, rich with psychological detail and the nuances of human connection.”
— Chicago Tribune
“THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER is a little bit Anne Tyler, a smidgen of Russell Banks and a bit of Ann Beattie, topped off with a dash of Bobbie Ann Mason. In other words, it's all Kim Edwards, and it's just perfect .”
-The Lexington Herald Leader
“ Poetic and illuminating .” 
- Kentucky Monthly
“Unfolding the plot over the course of 25 years, Edwards tells a moving story of two families bound by a secret that both eats away at relationships and eventually helps create new ones.”
- Booklist
“ The Memory Keeper's Daughter unfolds from an absolutely mesmerizing premise, drawing you deeply and irrevocably into the entangled lives of two families and the devastating secret that shapes them both. I loved this riveting story with its intricate characters and beautiful language.”
- Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair
“ The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a gift, filled with radiant mystery. Kim Edwards writes with great wisdom and compassion about family, choices, secrets, and redemption. This is a wonderful heartbreaking, heart-healing novel.”
- Luanne Rice, author of Beach Girls and Summer's Child
Kim Edwards' stunning debut novel, THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER (Penguin/ On-sale date: May 30, 2006/$14.00/ 416 pages) is a gripping family drama about a secret that shapes the lives of two families over a quarter of a century.
 On a snowy night in 1964, Dr. David Henry assists his wife as she gives birth to their twins, a boy and a girl. David realizes immediately that the girl, Phoebe, has Down's syndrome and in order to protect his wife Norah, orders the nurse to take her away to an institution, and tell his wife that their daughter died at birth. But the nurse, Caroline, cannot bring herself to leave Phoebe at the institution and instead chooses to run away to another city and raise the baby as her own.
Though for many years Norah remains unaware of David Henry's split-second decision that fateful night, the unspoken truth begins to strain their marriage. Paul, Phoebe's twin brother, raises himself as best as he can, in a house full of secrets. Meanwhile, Caroline makes a new life for herself and for Phoebe, who grows into a sunny, spirited girl, in a family of their own.
THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER instantly pulls the reader in and the story beautifully unfolds over twenty five years. It is a testament to the way that life can take unexpected turns, and how two families' lives are intertwined in mystery, loss and grief. It is a beautiful tale of redemptive love that will grip readers and keep them enthralled to the very end.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Kim Edwards |
Kim Edwards has won numerous awards, including a Whiting Award and the Nelson Algren Award and most recently the Kentucky Literary Award for fiction. She is the author of a collection of short stories, THE SECRETS OF A FIRE KING , which was an alternate for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her stories and essays have appeared in Ploughshares , Zoetrope , Anteaus , Story , and The Paris Review and have received a National Magazine Awards for excellence in Fiction and a Pushcart Prize. A graduate of the Iowa 's Writers' Workshop, she currently teaches writing at the University of Kentucky . This is her first novel, which has been chosen as a Barnes and Noble Discover title. She lives in Lexington , Kentucky with her husband and daughters.
THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER
By Kim Edwards
Penguin / On-sale date: May 30, 2006
$14.00 / ISBN 0-14-303719-6
For additional information or to schedule an interview with the author
please contact: Shannon Twomey, Publicist/Viking Penguin
212/366-2227 (direct), Shannon.twomey@us.penguingroup.com
Please visit us on the worldwide web: us.penguingroup.com
Penguin Group (USA) Inc. is the U.S. member of the internationally renowned Penguin Group. Penguin Group ( USA ) is one of the leading U.S. adult and children's trade book publishers, owning a wide range of imprints and trademarks, including Berkley Books, Dutton, Frederick Warne, G.P. Putnam's Sons, Grosset & Dunlap, New American Library, Penguin, Philomel, Riverhead Books and Viking, among others. The Penguin Group is part of Pearson plc, the international media company.
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