Study Tools
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards and published in 2005, dramatizes a typical medical decision for babies born with Down syndrome in 1964
. A doctor, David Henry, abandons his newborn daughter to dehumanized institutional care, and his nurse, Caroline Gill, rescues the child and raises her as her own, without David’s wife Norah knowing. Author Edwards based her novel on a real-life event and set the story in middle-class America to emphasize its relevance to today. A Lifetime TV movie version of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter starring Dermot Mulroney, Emily Watson, and Gretchen Mol was made in 2008.Read the full book summary, the full book analysis, and explanations of important quotes from The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.