by Kim Edwards
First published 2007
Winter 1964. A sudden snowstorm blankets Lexington, Kentucky as Dr. David Henry rushes his wife Norah to the hospital. The roads become impassable. David stops at his medical office where he and nurse Caroline must deliver the baby themselves. Norah gives birth to a healthy son, Paul. Then comes an unexpected second child, a daughter. David immediately recognizes that Phoebe has Down syndrome. Memories of his chronically ill sister flood back. In a moment that will reshape everything, David tells Caroline to take the infant to an institution. He cannot bear to put Norah through what his family endured. Caroline faces an impossible choice. David returns home with only Paul, telling Norah their daughter died at birth. The lie takes root. Years pass as the family builds their life around this buried secret. But truth has its own power. The decision David made in those desperate minutes will eventually surface, threatening to destroy the very people he thought he was protecting.
Genres: fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: family-secrets, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Lexington, Kentucky
Period: 1964
383 pages · Hardcover · RBA
Content warnings: medical-trauma