Gifts of Words

A moment of shock, fear, heartbreak, a moment when an unthinkable act occurs. A family is broken, before it begins.

That is the basic premise behind Kim Edwards' novel, The Memory Keepers Daughter.

I am only halfway into the novel, and I am spellbound, not just by the story itself, but by the depth of the characters, by Ms. Edwards descriptive turn of phrase, words that have to be reread, pages filled with words that resonate, words that mirror the moments of our lives.

~*~

"Her milk rose up again with its own irresistible tidal rhythms, a force so powerful it seemed to wash away everything she had been before. I wake to sleep, she thought..."

~*~

"He fished in his pocket for his keys and instead pulled out the last geode, gray and smooth, earth-shaped. He held it, warming in his palm, thinking of all mysteries the world contained: layers of stone, concealed beneath the flesh of earth and grass; these dull rocks, with their glimmering hidden hearts"

~*~

"He rose then, carefully, slowly, as if she were a bird he might startle into flight. But, Norah stood very still, intensely present in her body, feeling as if she were made out of sand, sand meeting fire and about to be transformed, smoothed, made glittering."

~*~

"Where was the toddler who had pulled off his shoes to taste them, the boy climbing trees and standing up on his bike with no hands? Somehow, that sweet daredevil boy, had become this young man. David's heart was filled, beating with such intensity that he wondered for a moment if he might be having a heart attack..."

~*~

"But he saw her understand, even as she spoke. In that moment something was stripped away. It all stood between them then..." "...the lies and the excuses..." "His lies too. She nodded once, slowly, and he was afraid of what she might say or do, of how the world might be forever changed. He wanted, more than anything, to fix this moment in place, to keep the world from moving forward."

~*~