Emily P. (mizparker) reviewed on 7/23/2009 + 87 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

I liked this story well enough to get through it enjoyably, but I probably would not re-read it. It's probably not for everyone, and might translate better to the older generation - the generation who grew up in the 50's and 60's that remembers a time when doctors were not always forthright with what was going on. The characters manage to be sympathetic despite their flaws, and when I reached the end, I found myself being very curious about what happened next, for all of them. A doctor delivers his own twins during a snowstorm (his wife is heavily drugged) and he immediately recognizes the signs of down syndrome in the little girl. He makes a snap decision, keeps the healthy boy twin, and sends the little girl off with the nurse to be institutionalized. He tells his wife that it was twins, and that the girl died at birth. One lie begets another, and we see the consequences wrought on all of their lives as a result of the doctor's initial lie. That's the one part of the story I didn't understand - if he was so determined to hide the down syndrome little girl from his wife, why say there were twins at all? In her haze, she would have believed that she'd just had the one healthy boy. I suppose, however, that without her characters' being haunted by the loss of her baby, the story would have been quite different. That was really my only objection. Otherwise, a pretty solidly interesting story. Not bad, not great.

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