In a tale spanning 25 years, a doctor delivers his newborn twins during a snowstorm and, rashly deciding to protect his wife from their baby daughter’s affliction with Down syndrome, turns her over to a nurse, who secretly raises the child.

Meh, don't understand all the fuss about this. A bit dragged out, everyone is happy in the end etc etc

Our club read this and it was a mixed response. Some loved it and others had little sympathy for the characters. I enjoyed the story overall and found it challenging at times from a moral standpoint. A good read.

A very sad and touching story - you wonder how a father can do what he did but at the same time, can understand his motivations behind it. The story would have been so different if more communication had been present. My heart went out to the son Paul who really lost the most by his parent's lack of honesty and communication with each other... a lesson for most marriages. Phoebe was the champion along with Caroline, who gave Phoebe what she really needed - Love - and got it back a hundredfold.

Too syrupy.

I enjoyed this book, but was somewhat disappointed in the ending. There was so much build up and character development throughout the rest of the book that the ending somehow didn't seem to fit.

This was a beautiful and sad story. Some other reviewers may find it has a "slow" pace, but I do not feel this is a reason to fault it. The book deals with emotion, reaction and consequence of decisions from the characters' past decisions. It is a story of the torment of the mind and heart. It is realistic and takes the time to investigate each character's sentiments thoroughly. If you're into this intimate human perspective, you will definitely enjoy this read.

This book is really slow, it could have been a good story if it was better written.

I couldn't put this book down at first. By midway, the author got caught up in loss of momentum and overly dramatic digging (and continued digging) into each characters' childhood. I got so tired of the druggery that I sped read through to the end. I wouldn't recommend it.

A good read! Kim Edwards paints a vivid picture of the time period. I enjoyed the story even though it was sad. There were a few twists in the story that took me by surprise which kept me reading into the night. Would have liked to see the story go further at the end.