The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Characters in The Memory Keeper's Daughter
6 characters, main characters first.Main characters
David Henry
The orthopedic surgeon who delivers his own twins in a 1964 blizzard and, seeing that his daughter has Down syndrome, tells his nurse to institutionalize her and his wife that she died. An amateur photographer haunted by the childhood death of his sister.
Norah Henry
David's wife, told her newborn daughter died at birth. She grieves a child who is alive, drinks, has an affair, and eventually builds a travel business of her own.
Caroline Gill
The nurse at the twins' birth. Instructed to take the baby to an institution, she leaves for Pittsburgh and raises Phoebe as her own daughter.
Paul Henry
The healthy twin, raised by David and Norah, who grows up under the weight of an absence nobody will name and becomes a classical guitarist.
Supporting characters
Phoebe Henry
The twin born with Down syndrome and given away at birth, raised in Pittsburgh by Caroline, and grown into a young woman who works, sings, and wants a life of her own.
Al Simpson
A long-haul truck driver who courts Caroline over years on the road and becomes her husband and Phoebe's father in every way that counts.