Emily Zibart

by Emily Zibart

Have you ever wondered how a single decision might affect every aspect of your entire life? Kim Edwards, award-winning author of the short story collection The Secrets of a Fire King, addresses this question in her new novel, The Memory Keeper's Daughter. David Henry, a doctor who has escaped his humble beginnings in rural Pennsylvania, moves to Lexington, Kentucky, to begin his career. There, he meets Norah Asher, whom he marries after a brief but intense relationship. A year later, on a very snowy night in 1964, a pregnant Norah goes into labor and David and his trusted nurse, Caroline Gill, are the only witnesses to a heart-wrenching surprise: the birth of twins, one a perfectly healthy boy, the other a girl with the classic symptoms of Down syndrome.

Dr. Henry, convinced that his daughter's condition will only cause his family heartache and suffering, commands that Caroline immediately take her to an institution and tells his wife that their daughter died at birth in order to protect her. It is this fateful decision that continues to haunt the novel's characters for years to come.

Caroline attempts to follow Dr. Henry's wishes, but finds herself unable to leave the infant, Phoebe, and vanishes with her to start a new life. Norah, oblivious to the situation, feels an infinite void at the loss of her daughter, which leads her to withdraw from her marriage. David, who is constantly consumed by his dishonesty and guilt, turns to photography in an attempt to freeze the fleeting but distinct moments that make up life. The twins grow up in different states, sharing many traits but unaware of one another's existence.

Edwards takes on many themes in this novel, including the burden of secrets, the loneliness of a disintegrating marriage, the heartache and triumph of raising children and, most pointedly, the need for developmentally disabled children to feel accepted by society. The Memory Keeper's Daughter reveals the strength of family bonds under unique and difficult circumstances.

Emily Zibart writes from New York City.

Debut Fiction, Fiction

Fiction Debut Fiction

Diving into the gene pool

Review by Emily Zibart

by Emily Zibart

Accomplished British journalist Carole Cadwalladr takes on a wide variety of weighty issues in her debut novel, The Family Tree, including the difficulties of family relationships, the plight of the English middle class, the aftermath of the women's liberation movement, the effects of pop culture on everyday life, and last but not least the argument of nature versus nurture. Yet the gravity of Cadwalladr's subject matter is brilliantly balanced by her light touch and sharp sense of humor, making the book a pleasure to read.

The premise of The Family Tree is refreshingly unique: the book itself is the thesis project of its engaging main character, Rebecca Monroe a discourse on how '70s pop culture has both affected and been influenced by the lives of women (complete with graph, charts, maps and hilarious footnotes explaining the significance of Love Story and Dallas ). To illustrate her point, Rebecca follows her own complicated family history, reaching back to her grandmother's thwarted romance with a Jamaican man and subsequent loveless marriage to a first cousin, through her parents' unhappy union and her mother's suicide and to the potential collapse of her own marriage. As the wife of a prominent scientist whose belief in genetic disposition encompasses characteristics ranging from mental illness to fidelity, Rebecca struggles with the idea that life as she knows it could be merely the result of mixings in her (slightly smaller than usual) gene pool. Despite having a family history that would stand up against the plot of any daytime TV drama, she constantly grasps at twists that would make the branches of her family tree even more tangled.

Cadwalladr writes with humor and intelligence, effectively tying together complicated plot lines that could in the hands of a less skilled author fall into the maudlin. The Family Tree is that rare book: a compelling and funny tale with underlying themes that will haunt the reader long after the cover is closed.

Emily Zibart writes from New York City.