The Memory Keeper’s Daughter: Chapter 15: April 1982 Summary & Analysis

On a spring evening, Caroline stands on the street waiting for the bus. She is on her way to an art opening downtown. She arrives at the museum where it’s being held and looks up at the banner fluttering over the entrance: “MIRROR IMAGES,” it reads; “PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID HENRY.” Caroline trembles as she heads up the steps into the building, merging with the large crowd pouring into the museum. 

Caroline proceeds into a large gallery room and finds herself face-to-face with his most famous photograph—a picture of Norah on the beach, dwarfed by large sand dunes. Caroline has had a singular image of Norah in her mind for years, but is now forced to confront the fact that Norah is “a woman she ha[s] never known.”

Applause rings out as David Henry enters the room, stands in front of the crowd, and gives a short speech. The two of them lock eyes as he begins, but his attention is not broken. Caroline, however, barely focuses on what he’s saying, distracted by the ways in which his face has changed over the decades. After David’s speech, Caroline approaches a small group of press gathered in front of him. David smiles at her blithely, not recognizing her. She places her hand on his arm and asks if he truly doesn’t remember her—as they lock eyes once more, she watches recognition wash over David’s face.

David hurries Caroline away into another room where they can talk privately. David asks if Caroline has been living in Pittsburgh all this time, and she remarks that she wasn’t all that hard to find. She acknowledges that she “wanted to be lost,” but says that David probably didn’t look for her very hard himself. As Caroline looks at David and sees how much he’s changed, she realizes that’s she has “held him in her mind all this time like a photograph.”

Caroline tells David that she was once in love with him—David says he knows, and apologizes for using that knowledge to coerce her into doing his bidding and taking Phoebe away. Caroline tries to push down the anger she feels as David asks how Phoebe’s doing, and whether the two of them are happy. Caroline asks David if he “really want[s] to know,” considering that, with one exception, he never wrote a letter. David retorts that when Caroline herself stopped writing, he felt “like [she’d] slammed a door” on him. Caroline admits she never thought David actually read her letters.

David asks again whether Caroline and Phoebe are happy, and whether Phoebe is in good health. Caroline replies that Phoebe is perfectly healthy—and her heart is fine. She tells David that Phoebe has a cat named Rain, and loves to sing and weave. She tells him that Phoebe goes to public school—an opportunity Caroline “[fought] like hell” for. Caroline admits that she doesn’t know what the future holds—but she says that while in giving Phoebe up, David has missed a lot of heartache, he’s also “missed a lot of joy.” David grimly says he already knows that to be true. He tells Caroline briefly about his own life, but the curator of the show enters the room and summons David to rejoin the party.

David begs Caroline to wait for him to finish talking to a few people—he wants to know more about what he’s missed, and offers to take her to dinner. Caroline doesn’t answer—instead, she reaches into her purse and pulls out an envelope filled with photographs of Phoebe. Caroline watches David mill about the main room for a minute, but then hurries out of the museum and heads for home. 

As Caroline approaches her house, she watches Phoebe weaving at her loom through the downstairs window. She thinks about the life they’ve built together with Al—and is surprised to see him, too, through the window. He’s come home early from a trip, she guesses, to surprise them. Filled with warmth and gratitude for the life she has, Caroline climbs the steps to the front porch and goes inside.