I was lucky enough to win this book in the Galaxy Book Club competition. It's not normally the kind of book I might go for, but I'd heard good things about it, and as it was free, I thought I would give it a go!

I'll try to give you a brief overview of the story without giving too much away. The book begins in 1964 with Dr David Henry and his wife Norah looking forward to the birth of their first child. The opening gives an insight in to how they met, and paints a picture of them as a traditional happy couple, about to be parents for the first time.

When Norah goes into labour, the weather and snow are so bad that they are unable to get to a hospital for her to give birth. Instead, they manage to get her as far as David's clinic, where he works as a doctor. He calls the nurse that he works with, Caroline, to meet them there to help.

When Norah gives birth, she unexpectantly has twins, a boy and a girl. However, when the girl is born, it is obvious to David that she has downs syndrome. He does not want the child, so he passes her to Caroline, and instructs her to take her for a home for people with downs syndrome, then he tells his wife that their second baby has died.

This is where the deceit and betrayl that shape the rest of the story begins.

The book then documents the lives of the family, Caroline the nurse, and the baby girl, and show how all of their lives are affected by the lie that David has told.

The story is told in the third person, switching its focus between the different characters. It focuses on a year or so in their lives, and then every few chapters, jumps forward a few years to show how things have changed. The book begins in 1964 and ends in 1989. This really works well as it gives a lot of insight into the characters as we are able to see how they change over time and with age.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a very sad book, not in the way that will have you crying as you read it, but the whole idea of it, and the way in which David's lie affects and hurts so many people makes it a sad story.

The treatment of people with Downs Syndrome is fairly shocking, although at the time the book is set, in the 1960s and 70s, it was much more taboo that it is now. For example, the home that Caroline was instructed to take the baby too sounded awful and inhumane, and it seems amazing that it was considered acceptable just 40 or 50 years ago. Having said that, even now, people still don't have a huge amount of knowledge of Downs Syndrome, and the book gives an interesting view of the condition, showing a character who has had to live with it.

I wouldn't say that this book is a page turner as such, it took me a few weeks to read it. Some parts of it grabbed me and made me want to read a lot in one go, but it often came to a natural pause, meaning you could leave it for a while. Having said this it was an enjoyable read, and once I had started the book I wanted to know what happened and how it ended.

The book retails for £7.99. Whilst it was good, and I would recommend reading it, it's maybe not the sort of book you would want to read again and again, so it might be better to pick it up from a library.

It's an interesting book with lots of thought provoking themes and topics, and I'd recommend giving it a read