Penguin Group
Small-town doctor's wife gives birth to twins in 1964. One is perfect, the other has Down's. Doctor gets office nurse to take baby to an institution to be raised, never telling child's mother that she had twins. Nurse can't leave child at institution, so she disappears with the child to another town and raises her as her own. The book describes the lives of the two children, twins that were raised separately, one with Down's and one without, and how this family secret affected the lives of all concerned.
This is a fabulous book, especially from the standpoint of how much love a mother can feel for a child that is not biologically hers. Childbirth didn't make this woman a mom, it was being a mother that made her a mom. It's a deeply moving story, very difficult to put down the book once you open it. When you read about how much this mother goes through for her child, it makes those irritating things our children do to annoy us seem so trivial and inconsequential. It gives new perspective on raising so-called normal or healthy children and commiseration to those dealing with children who have issues.
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