The Memory Keeper's Daughter.THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER. Kim Edwards Kim Edwards is an American author and educator. Her first novel, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, is a New York Times Bestseller. She wrote the short story collection, The Secrets of a Fire King . 2005. Read by Martha Plimpton. 2005.9 cds. 11 hrs. Harper Audio. 0-06-0825580-4. $39.95. Cardboard; plot, author, reader notes. SA Edwards's touching, wise novel opens in 1964, when the medical profession was substantially less enlightened about mental retardation mental retardation, below average level of intellectual functioning, usually defined by an IQ of below 70 to 75, combined with limitations in the skills necessary for daily living. than it is now. Because a blizzard prevents an obstetrician obstetrician /ob·ste·tri·cian/ (ob?ste-trish´in) one who practices obstetrics. ob·ste·tri·cian n. A physician who specializes in obstetrics. from reaching Norah Henry, Dr. David Henry, with the help of his office nurse Caroline Gill, must attend his own wife's delivery. Norah has fraternal twins fraternal twins pl.n. Twins that derive from separately fertilized ova and that have different genetic makeup. They may be of the same or opposite sex. : a healthy, normal boy, and a girl with Down's syndrome. In an effort to spare his wife the burden of a child doomed to a problem-ridden life and an early death, Henry tells her that their daughter died at birth and gives her to Caroline, instructing her to leave the newborn at a state home for the retarded. But Gill is appalled by conditions in the institution. A nurturer, she keeps the baby, moves away, and raises her progressively, fighting vigorously to give the child an opportunity for a full and happy life. The novel unflinchingly traces the impact of these two irrevocable decisions on both households. Plimpton's beautifully performed fully vocalized reading is emotionally charged and acutely responsive to the sensitive issues in this novel. Francine Levitov, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , NY |
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