Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
When Kim Edwards, author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter, arrived at the Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston this month, she was greeted by a window display that owner Valerie Koehler says "looked just like the cover of the book": A gauzy, white baby dress was superimposed over a black background.
That Koehler and her staff went the extra mile for Edwards' book is typical of the enthusiasm The Memory Keeper's Daughter (Penguin, $14) is sparking across the country.
Since its release May 30 in trade paperback, it has climbed USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list. It reached No. 1 on Aug. 17, where it remains. Nearly 1.3 million copies are in print.
For the first-time novelist, life has become a thrill ride. "Nothing could have prepared me for what has happened," says Edwards, 48, who published a collection of short stories, The Secrets of a Fire King, in 1997. "It has been a wonderful, exciting summer."
Koehler says the book could turn out to be her store's biggest seller for 2006 -- not bad for a novel that did little in hardcover when it was released last year.
Edwards, who teaches creative writing at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, where she lives with her husband, Tom, and their two daughters, credits recommendations from booksellers and readers for the explosion in popularity.
The novel takes place over 25 years, beginning in 1964, when a snowstorm forces Dr. David Asher to deliver his wife's twins. Paul is a normal, healthy boy; Phoebe has Down syndrome. David makes an impulsive decision and asks a nurse to take Phoebe and have her institutionalized. He tells his wife, Norah, that the baby girl is dead. But the nurse takes Phoebe and runs away to raise her on her own.
Edwards says the idea came from the pastor of her church, who told her she knew of a man who discovered in his 40s that he had a brother with Down syndrome who had been in an institution since birth.
"I was very struck with the idea of a secret at the center of a family," she says. "Most people don't have secrets that are this dramatic, but everybody has kept secrets and had secrets kept from them. That dynamic fascinates people."
For Brenda Klaassen of Sheldon, Iowa, the secrets "really catch your attention. It's one of those books you can't put down." The Sheldon Library Book Discussion Group will host Edwards, via telephone, at its September meeting.
"Different points in the story and the different characters touch different people in different ways."
As fans relish her book, Edwards is looking to her next novel. "I was looking forward to working on it a lot this summer when all this happened. I'm looking forward to getting back to it."
To see more of USAToday.com, or to subscribe, go to http://www.usatoday.com
© Copyright 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
