![Victoria - Season 2](/uploads/profile_image/217/1c2e3c21-f221-4940-b5a0-8f8295e60217.jpg?m=1522329538)
Victoria - Season 2
TV Season Watch
Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes joined by Dame Diana Rigg as shooting starts on second series of...
History drama
![The Divine Comedy](/uploads/profile_image/ac4/b8b0c639-bfbd-498f-8926-d1c507e08ac4.jpg?m=1603976464)
The Divine Comedy
Book
Robin Kirkpatrick's masterful verse translation of The Divine Comedy, tracing Dante's journey from...
![40x40](/uploads/profile_image/584/f9774d52-4dc9-459f-8743-7b6865d28584.jpg?m=1557586974)
TheBookMother (105 KP) rated The Memory Keeper's Daughter in Books
Jun 6, 2019
A Doctor in a snow storm delivers his twins but one is born with Down Syndrome and he decides there and then to tell his wife that she died. He hands over his daughter to the nurse and asks her to take her to a home. She decides upon seeing the home she cannot possibly leave her here and raises her herself.
The book follows through time the lives of everyone the Doctor and his wife raising there son Paul, and the Nurse Caroline fighting for Phoebe to be accepted and have access to an education and equal opportunities.
It starts of in the 60s and we really get a glimpse into the attitudes of the time towards those with Down Syndrome and at times it is awkward to read at times as you cannot believe that it was like this.
With such a explosive secret being kept and the grief that Norah feels after thinking she has lost a child the family is poisoned and relationships turn toxic and the family dynamic is ripped apart.
We see Phoebe thrive throughout her life with Caroline and also the limitations she faces in her day to day life.
The emotive language the author uses means you do feel Norah's loss, you resent David for his betrayal, you can understand Paul's rebellion and Caroline's guilt.
It is an achingly beautiful book which is dealing with an explosively emotive storyline. I really enjoyed it and it is really hauntingly staying with me even after I've finished as I began to imagine how I would feel and what I would do if I was put in that situation. A really good read, possibly to emotionally charged for a sleep deprived and hormonal mother of two boys, one of which does have medical issues do I could relate somewhat too.
![The Dogs of Avalon: The Race to Save Animals in Peril](/uploads/profile_image/810/2ea6b282-135a-406d-9eeb-e58fc0241810.jpg?m=1522356036)
The Dogs of Avalon: The Race to Save Animals in Peril
Book
Greyhounds, bred to be the fastest racing dogs on earth, are streaks of lightning. Beautiful,...
![40x40](/uploads/profile_image/f08/2529ce41-20c5-480f-9b50-964e36bb6f08.jpg?m=1613569433)
Adam McKay recommended Hustlers (2019) in Movies (curated)
![Covert Radar and Signals Interception: The Secret Career of Eric Ackermann](/uploads/profile_image/2d3/884c8c20-b814-4cfb-a08f-971d1d8e12d3.jpg?m=1522324709)
Covert Radar and Signals Interception: The Secret Career of Eric Ackermann
Peter Jackson and David Haysom
Book
Of German stock dating back to 1530 in Saxony, Eric George Ackermann GM was born on the Isle of...
![The Art of Aphorism and Nietzsche's Blind Passion](/uploads/profile_image/e93/fa845d83-99c5-49d9-8ebd-26225edb0e93.jpg?m=1522353353)
The Art of Aphorism and Nietzsche's Blind Passion
Book
Aphorisms can be seen as an art: making the best connection between existing knowledge so as to...
![Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel](/uploads/profile_image/299/82aa3560-3fcc-4ef8-a8bc-d57f0c1e8299.jpg?m=1522323206)
Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel
Book
The definitive biography of the iron-willed leader, chain-smoking political operative, and...
biography history
![The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker](/uploads/profile_image/c61/419a5ebf-1bb3-46a1-b9db-c514bab4ec61.jpg?m=1522359288)
The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker
Adam Gopnik, David Remnick and Robert Mankoff
Book
The book that Janet Maslin of The New York Times has called 'indispensable' and 'a transfixing study...
![Journey into the Past](/uploads/profile_image/c53/b67557af-a0b9-42d0-becd-4af2791ecc53.jpg?m=1522361279)
Journey into the Past
Anthea Bell, Stefan Zweig and David Pearson
Book
Stefan's Zweig's posthumously-published Journey into the Past (Widerstand der Wirklichkeit) is a...