The Novelist’s Title Writer’s Daughter

Daughters are popular right now. Novelists are smitten by them. I first took notice of the trend when Amy Tan published The Bonesetter’s Daughter a few years ago. It was a year after the non-fiction world was introduced to Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel. I was briefly side-tracked by The Time-Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffennegger) and an old copy of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (Laurie King), but the steady release of books about one person or another’s daughter continued unabated.

Consider this progression: The Traitor’s Daughter leads to The Hangman’s Daughter, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, The Mortician’s Daughter, The Gravedigger’s Daughter, and finally The Grave Robber’s Daughter. There are daughters of presidents and preachers, heroes and inmates, samurais and martian generals, hummingbirds and centaurs. I even encountered The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter! I don’t know why this female offspring phenomenon has taken root, but The Bookseller’s Daughter is surely grateful.

Do you think I’m imagining it? I ran a search of my local library’s catalog and turned up these books published in the last ten years.

  • The Abortionist’s Daughter
  • The Admiral’s Daughter
  • Agamemnon’s Daughter
  • The Alchemist’s Daughter
  • Belshazzar’s Daughter
  • The Bishop’s Daughter
  • The Bonesetter’s Daughter
  • The Bookseller’s Daughter
  • The Bootlegger’s Daughter
  • The Butterfly’s Daughter
  • Califia’s Daughters
  • Calligrapher’s Daughter
  • Castro’s Daughter
  • The Centaur’s Daughter
  • Cleopatra’s Daughter
  • The Colonel’s Daughter
  • Colter’s Daughter
  • The Communist’s Daughter
  • The Con Man’s Daughter
  • The Concubine’s Daughter
  • The Courtesan’s Daughter
  • Crusoe’s Daughter
  • Dagmar’s Daughter
  • Dan Barry’s Daughter
  • Dante’s Daughter
  • Death’s Daughter
  • Deception’s Daughter
  • The Demon Trapper’s Daughter
  • The Doctor’s Daughter
  • Dracula’s Daughter
  • The Dragon Lord’s Daughter
  • The Dreamthief’s Daughter
  • Elminster’s Daughter
  • His Enemy’s Daughter
  • The Executioner’s Daughter
  • The Farmer’s Daughter
  • The Fat Man’s Daughter
  • The Firework-maker’s Daughter
  • The Fortune Teller’s Daughter
  • Fortune’s Daughter
  • Frightful’s Daughter
  • The Frontiersman’s Daughter
  • General Winston’s Daughter
  • The Glass Maker’s Daughter
  • The Gold Miner’s Daughter
  • The Goldsmith’s Daughter
  • The Grave Robber’s Daughter
  • The Gravedigger’s Daughter
  • Hades Daughter
  • The Hangman’s Daughter
  • Hanna’s Daughters
  • The Headhunter’s Daughter
  • The Heretic’s Daughter
  • The Hero’s Daughter
  • The Horsemaster’s Daughter
  • The Hummingbird’s Daughter
  • I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter
  • An Inmate’s Daughter
  • Isabel’s Daughter
  • Killing Neptune’s Daughter
  • The Kingmaker’s Daughter
  • The King’s Daughter
  • Kubiak’s Daughter
  • Lady Macbeth’s Daughter
  • The Landlord’s Black-Eyed Daughter
  • The Legate’s Daughter
  • The Light-Bearer’s Daughter
  • The Lightkeeper’s Daughter
  • The Lion’s Daughter
  • The Lord Protector’s Daughter
  • Madame Bovary’s Daughter
  • The Mapmaker’s Daughter
  • The Marsh King’s Daughter
  • The Martian General’s Daughter
  • The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
  • The Merchant’s Daughter
  • Midnight’s Daughter
  • The Miner’s Daughter
  • The Minister’s Daughter
  • Misfortune’s Daughters
  • The Mistress’s Daughter
  • The Mortician’s Daughter
  • The Musician’s Daughter
  • Mutiny’s Daughter
  • My Mother’s Daughter
  • The Nabob’s Daughter
  • The Narcissist’s Daughter
  • The Norse King’s Daughter
  • The Optimist’s Daughter
  • Pandora’s Daughter
  • A Partisan’s Daughter
  • Penelope’s Daughter
  • Pharoah’s Daughter
  • Phillipa Fisher and the Dream-maker’s Daughter
  • The Pirate Captain’s Daughter
  • The Pirate’s Daughter
  • The Preacher’s Daughter
  • The President’s Daughter
  • The Printmaker’s Daughter
  • The Professor’s Daughter
  • Prospero’s Daughter
  • The Queen’s Daughter
  • The Quilter’s Daughter
  • Rappacini’s Daughter
  • Rashi’s Daughters
  • Rasputin’s Daughter
  • Rav Hisda’s Daughter
  • The Red Queen’s Daughter
  • Rizzo’s Daughter
  • The Sailmaker’s Daughter
  • The Samurai’s Daughter
  • Sarah’s Daughter
  • Scandal’s Daughter
  • The Schoolmaster’s Daughter
  • Seadragon’s Daughter
  • Search of the Moon King’s Daughter
  • The Serpent’s Daughter
  • Shakespeare’s Daughter
  • The Shamer’s Daughter
  • Shylock’s Daughter
  • The Snake Catcher’s Daughter
  • Somebody Else’s Daughter
  • Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter
  • The Storekeeper’s Daughter
  • The Storyteller’s Daughter
  • The Superintendent’s Daughter
  • The Tailor’s Daughter
  • The Thief Queen’s Daughter
  • The Tinker’s Daughter
  • The Traitor’s Daughter
  • The Tsarina’s Daughter
  • Twin’s Daughter
  • Valmiki’s Daughter
  • The Virgin Queen’s Daughter
  • The Weatherman’s Daughter
  • Weaver’s Daughter
  • The Wedding Planner’s Daughter
  • The Winemaker’s Daughter
  • The Widow’s Daughter
  • Wisdom’s Daughter
  • The Witch’s Daughter
  • Wizard’s Daughter
  • Wolverine’s Daughter
  • The Woodsman’s Daughter

And let’s throw in a few non-fiction daughters for good measure:

  • The Englishman’s Daughter
  • Farmworker’s Daughter
  • The Florist’s Daughter
  • Freedom’s Daughters
  • Galileo’s Daughter
  • The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter
  • I Am My Father’s Daughter
  • I Am My Mother’s Daughter
  • The Impostor’s Daughter
  • Mendel’s Daughter
  • My Father’s Daughter
  • The Pope’s Daughter
  • Prophet’s Daughter
  • Somebody’s Daughter
  • The Spice Merchant’s Daughter
  • The Storyteller’s Daughter
  • The Sun’s Daughter
  • Memoirs of a Gangster’s Daughter

I rest my case.

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