The best novels about father-daughter relationships

Atticus and Scout Finch are OG father-daughter #goals, so it’s only fitting that any list of novels about father and daughters start here. Lawyer Atticus Finch teaches young Scout about empathy, the multiple perspectives to a story, and standing up for what’s right. His advice resonates with me decades after I first read this classic in middle school: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

Atticus’ compassionate and measuredly wise parenting style, coupled with young Scout’s wide-eyed coming of age and discovery of uncomfortable social blights, like racism and injustice in our criminal justice system, make this literary duo an unforgettable pair. 

Set during the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, Doerr’s stunningly lyrical novel tells the story of twelve-year-old Marie-Laure Leblanc and her father, Daniel, a locksmith at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. Father and daughter flee Paris for the walled coastal city of Saint Malo, where they take refuge with a relative.

Doerr weaves a gorgeous story of survival during calamitous times that is particularly poignant when it comes to Daniel’s relationship with his daughter. Having been blind since her childhood, one of the ways Daniel keeps Marie-Laure safe is by constructing model replicas of their surroundings so she can navigate her neighborhood while sightless – what a beautiful testament to the love and resourcefulness of a parent for his child.

The story of thirty-year-old, recently unengaged Ruth Young, who moves back in with her parents for a transitional year to help care for her father, Howard Young, a history professor recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

Khong’s novel, written as a diary, contains astute vignettes on a daughter's understanding, misunderstanding, and re-learning to love her father. The novel addresses the heavy topic of caring for one’s aging parent, who is in the throes of dementia. And while the Fosters will, at times, make you weep, they remarkably are also able to elicit a chuckle in the next breath. 

This is the story of the relationships and legacy of surgeon Kweku Sai, who passes away of a heart attack in his garden in Ghana in the opening pages of this page-turning family drama. The novel explores Kweku’s relationships with each of his four children and how each makes sense of and mourns his death.

While slightly different than the other selections in this list in that it doesn’t focus on a single father-daughter relationship, the novel nonetheless explores the complexity of Kweku’s estranged relationships with each of his children, including his daughters Taiwo and Sadie. 

Anything written by Lahiri is IT for me. She is the reason I wanted to write. She normalized storytelling that features Indian American characters, and this novel is nothing short of breathtaking.

While it doesn’t focus on the relationship between a biological father and daughter, the novel depicts the trials and tribulations between Subhash Mitra and his deceased brother’s daughter Bela, whom Subash raises as his own child. Their relationship is moving, at times gutwrenching, and ultimately, redemptive. I’d recommend this novel for a thousand reasons, one of which is Lahiri’s masterful portrayal of love, estrangement, and reconciliation between Subhash and Bela