Daddy
Danielle Steel, 1989
★ 3.90 from 10.8k ratings on Goodreads
A woman who once wanted to write gives her life to a marriage and children in the New York suburbs — and finds the bill coming due. A domestic family drama with a steady, dramatic pace, a lyrical streak, and a strong pull of memory and longing.
Feels like longing, serenity and unease. About family, memory and society.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy family sagas about marriage, motherhood, and old choices coming back into view. Be warned, though: many readers are angered by its gender-role framing and by Oliver’s treatment of Sarah, and some find the story predictable.
Why read it
It offers a close look at how a marriage and family can absorb a woman’s ambitions, and why the past rarely stays settled.
A page from the book
The moment a woman realises her body has made a decision without her.
He had come home from work to find her looking as though her best friend had died. But it was no friend, it was only “the rabbit.” She had been puzzled by the absence of her period once they got home, but she had been religious about using her diaphragm, and knew she couldn’t be pregnant. She had worn it practically night and day from the altar till they got home from their honeymoon, but somehow, some way, something had gone wrong, and she was pregnant. And she wanted to have an abortion. Oliver was horrified that she would even think of it. But Sarah was even more so at the thought of having children so quickly. What readers say
Readers are sharply divided: many are angered by the story’s gender-role framing and by Oliver’s treatment of Sarah, while others find the family drama moving and easy to read. Several also call it predictable or disappointing.
Danielle Steel.Steel published her first novel, Going Home, in 1973; Daddy appeared in 1989, by which time she was already one of the world's bestselling authors.
Books that feel like this
More by Danielle Steel
Fine Things
Danielle Steel, 1987
A man who builds a life of order and elegance discovers how quickly love can rearrange everything, in a story that moves from New York's fashion world to the beaches of Mexico.
Zoya
Danielle Steel, 1988
From imperial ballrooms to exile, a Russian aristocrat learns what survival costs.
The House on Hope Street
Danielle Steel, 2000
A married law team fights a wealthy husband's hidden assets for a frightened client, while their own home life quietly sets the stakes.
Where to get it
Some of these links earn us a small commission, at no cost to you. It keeps BookFeed free.
Questions readers ask
- Is Daddy for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy family sagas about marriage, motherhood, and old choices coming back into view. Be warned, though: many readers are angered by its gender-role framing and by Oliver’s treatment of Sarah, and some find the story predictable.
- What is Daddy like?
- A domestic family drama with a steady, dramatic pace, a lyrical streak, and a strong pull of memory and longing. Feels like longing, serenity and unease. About family, memory and society.
- What should I read after Daddy?
- If you liked Daddy, try The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough), Before We Were Yours (Lisa Wingate) and The Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan).
A taste of the feed
Do we ever really change, or merely become ourselves?
Each of us has something within us which won’t be denied, even if it makes us scream aloud to die. We are what we are, that’s all. Like the old Celtic legend of the bird with the thorn in its breast, singing its heart out and dying. Because it has to, its self-knowledge can’t affect or change the outcome, can it? Everyone singing his own little song, convinced it’s the most wonderful song the world has ever heard. Don’t you see? We create our own thorns, and never stop to count the cost. All we can do is suffer the pain, and tell ourselves it was well worth it.
The Thorn Birds · Colleen McCullough
A stranger’s grip can feel like a message you haven’t learned to read.
Someone touches my hand and wrist, fingers encircling me so unexpectedly that I jerk away, then stop myself, so as not to cause a scene. The grip is cold and bony and trembling, but surprisingly strong. I turn to see the woman from the garden. She straightens her humped back and gazes up at me through eyes the color of the hydrangeas back home at Drayden Hill—a soft, clear blue with a lighter mist around the edges. Her pleated lips tremble.
Before We Were Yours · Lisa Wingate
A place at the table, handed down whether or not you asked.
My father has asked me to be the fourth corner at the Joy Luck Club.
The Joy Luck Club · Amy Tan
Read pages from books like this, one at a time
Keep reading in the feed