First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

It should have been an ordinary birth, the start of an ordinary happy family. But the night Dr. David Henry delivers his wife’s twins is a night that will haunt five lives forever.

For though David’s son is a healthy boy, his daughter has Down’s syndrome. And, in a shocking act of betrayal whose consequences only time will reveal, he tells his wife their daughter died while secretly entrusting her care to a nurse.

As grief quietly tears apart David’s family, so a little girl must make her own way in the world as best she can.

And that’s a wrap! Another work week in the books! Happy Friday everyone! The weekends are waving. Oh, I just remembered. Today is the first day of December which means that the holiday season is just right around the corner. This also means we are inching ever closer to the inevitable close of 2023. How has the year been for everyone? I hope it has been kind and brimming with blessings and good news. If it has been otherwise, I hope that the remainder of the year will be overflowing with good tidings. I hope you will achieve everything you want to achieve this year. I hope that you get repaid for the hard work you poured in this year. More importantly, I hope everyone will be healthy, in body, mind, and spirit, during the rest of the year and in the coming year.

As we transition to the weekend, I hope you are ending the workweek on a high note. I hope that nothing untoward happened at the office. I hope that you are sashaying into the weekend without too many worries, at least those related to your work. Today, we bid farewell to our previous general manager as he was asked to report back to the head office. He has been reassigned to the Tokyo branch. For those whose workweek didn’t go as planned, I hope the weekend will provide you a badly needed reprieve. I hope everyone will be spending the weekend with their loved ones or pursuing things they are passionate about. For those who are caught in the crossfire in Israel and Palestine, my prayers are with all of you. I fervently wish the two states find a peaceful resolution to their decades-old conflict.

Before the year ends, I hope everyone will achieve all the goals they have set at the start of the year. Thankfully we still have thirty days to complete them. It is also a chance to reverse the misfortunes we are dealt with. Personally, the remaining goals I want to achieve involve my reading. In ways, more than one, 2023 has been record-breaking. I completed over 100 books – I am currently reading my 119th book – for the second year running. This resets my personal record I set last year; I read 103 books last year. My current read, Kim Edwards’ The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is one of the books in my 2023 Beat the Backlist Challenge, the second to the last book I aim to read; the last one is Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon.

I can’t remember when I first encountered the book but I know that it caught my attention mainly because the word “daughter” was in the book’s title. It was also around this time that I noted some books having daughter or son in their title such as Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son and Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter. Honestly, I was reluctant to purchase The Memory Keeper’s Daughter at first but I eventually relented, curious about what it has in store. Unfortunately, it was left to gather some dust on my bookshelf. To redress this, I added it to the aforementioned Beat the Backlist Challenge; I am more of a backlist type of reader by the way. I didn’t have an iota about what the book was about although I am mystified by the titular memory keeper’s daughter. I am wondering who the memory keeper is and who the daughter is.

The novel commences with a mother, Norah Henry, giving birth. She was assisted in her delivery by her doctor-cum-husband, Dr. David Henry, who was assisted by Caroline Gill. Norah delivered a perfectly healthy boy to the delight of his father. The boy was named Paul. What neither Norah nor Paul expected was the delivery of a second child just a couple of minutes after Paul’s delivery. The second baby was a girl. However, Dr. Henry immediately noticed her defects. He noted that she was afflicted with Down’s Syndrome. Being down with this syndrome, her father already surmised what her future would look like. It would be a life brimming with difficulties, a high possibility of heart defect, and even early death. His daughter’s birth also brought him back to his childhood, to memories of his sister June who was also afflicted with the same disorder.

Acting on his conscience – despite his scientific mind, he cannot take it upon himself to raise a child only to see them suffer – he asked Caroline to bring his daughter to an institution. Norah, heavily sedated during the delivery, was eventually informed about a second child. However, her husband told his wife that their daughter died during birth. Meanwhile, Caroline went against the doctor’s wishes and opted to keep the child and named her Phoebe; Dr. Henry was eventually informed of this but still decided to be rid of any connections with Caroline and his daughter. It is important to note that the story commenced on March 6, 1964, hence, the attitude toward Down Syndrome. I was actually surprised when I learned about the child’s affliction, thinking that the novel was a work of magical realism or fantasy.

As the story moved forward, Edwards took the readers through the intricacies of family life. We read about the complexities of the Henry family’s life. Paul is growing up to be a talented child interested in music; he dreams of entering the famed Julliard School of Music. His parents, however, were apprehensive of his dream. They didn’t want their child to be hurt by rejection. They wanted him to pursue a profession that would be beneficial when he grows up, you, typical things that characterize parents who grew up in the older generation. I am interested to see how Paul will take it all in. David, it seems, had no spine to speak of. Well, the fact that he gave away his daughter was very telling.

Another facet of the story that piqued my interest was Norah’s growing sense of herself. When she was younger, she lived under the shadow of her younger and more rebellious sister Brittany, or Bree. Norah was subservient to the wishes and the expectations of those around her but her marriage was opening doors for her. It is of note that the period the novel was set in is often associated with the rise of feminism and the wave of sexual liberation; Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying comes to mind. But above all of this, I am interested in how Phoebe’s life is going to turn out. So far, she was left as an afterthought although I surmise she is the titular memory keeper’s daughter. Does that mean David is the memory keeper because he was bound by the past? Will the chasm between the Henry family be repaired? This is something I am trying to figure out.

I am hoping that the book won’t disappoint as it has a promising premise. I can’t remember reading any book dealing with the subject of Down’s Syndrome although I read about characters under the spectrum, suffering from afflictions such as Asperger’s, dyslexia, and autism. Thankfully, the writing is very accessible which makes it a rather easy read. How about you fellow reader? What book or books are you taking with you for the weekend? I hope you get to enjoy them. Again, happy weekend everyone!