On January 1, 2010 Playaway releases The Calligrapher's Daughter, Eugenia Kim's debut novel. It's a work of historical fiction inspired by the life of the author's mother and taking place in Korea during the 35 years when that nation was brutally controlled by Imperial Japan (1910-1945). The book received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly.
Kim's book makes me think about a lot of things including forgotten history and mothers and daughters. But it also got me wondering how many books there are with titles in the form of The [blank]'s Daughter. Currently on Playaway we have the following:
| The Bonesetter's Daughter | Tan, Amy |
| The President's Daughter | Higgins, Jack |
| The Abortionist's Daughter | Hyde, Elisabeth |
| The General's Daughter | DeMille, Nelson |
| The Memory Keeper's Daughter* | Edwards, Kim |
| The Bootlegger's Daughter* | Maron, Margaret |
| The Preacher's Daughter* | Lewis, Beverly |
| The Fortune Teller's Daughter* | Shaara, Lila |
| The Apothecary's Daughter* | Klassen, Julie |
| The Bishop's Daughter* | Brunstetter, Wanda |
| The Quilter's Daughter* | Brunstetter, Wanda |
| The Storekeeper's Daughter* | Brunstetter, Wanda |
| The Tsarina's Daughter** | Erickson, Carolly |
--
* available on Playaway from Recorded Books
* available on Playaway from BBC Audiobooks America
But the list above barely scratches the surface. There are dozens and dozens of books with titles like this. Wondering what was up with all the daughters and whether this was a relatively recent formulation, I went scurrying to WorldCat.
I found a bunch of relatively recent titles, starting with The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty, which won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Others included:
| The narcissist's daughter | Craig Holden | 2005 |
| The mapmaker's daughter | John Pilkington | 2004 |
| The firework-maker's daughter | Philip Pullman | 1995 |
| The demon count's daughter | Anne Stuart | 1980 |
| The taxidermist's daughter | Nancy Schoenberger | 1980 |
(You've got to admit that one about the taxidermist is special -- published in Missoula, Montana by Calliopea Press.)
I also found these sorts of titles beginning to appear in significant numbers early in the 1800's and continuing on into the early 20th century. The examples from this period are often morality tales or romantic adventures:
| The clergyman's daughter | William Charles White | 1810 |
| The robber's daughter | author unknown | 1818 |
| The consul's daughter | author unknown | 1841 |
| The distiller's daughter | Osgood Bradbury | 1844 |
| The pirate's daughter | Eliza A Dupuy | 1845 |
| The banditt's daughter | H.L. Williams | 1845 |
| The commodore's daughter | B. Barker | 1846 |
| The matricide's daughter | Newton Mallory Curtis | 1847 |
| The lawyer's daughter | Joseph Alden | 1847 |
| The debtor's daughter | T.S. Arthur | 1850 |
| The slaveholder's daughter | F. Colburn Adams | 1855 |
| The begum's daughter | Edwin Lassetter Bynner | 1890 |
| The squire's daughter | Archibald Marshall | 1912 |
| The charwoman's daughter | James Stephens | 1912 |
| The minister's daughter | Hildur Dixelius | 1926 |
Although there were earlier instances, the trend may have been set by Alexander Pushkin's historical novel, The Captain's Daughter, published in 1836. The earliest example I found was a 1775 English farce with an unknown author, entitled The Citizen's Daughter. Obviously, it's a powerful formula for a catchy title.
All of this makes me think of Michael Chabon, who skewers this magnificently in Wonder Boys, the tale of a burned-out academic who, after 10 years of writing, hasn't been able to follow up on his best-selling debut novel: The Arsonist's Daughter.
(By the way, Michael Chabon's 2006 children's title Summerland is available on Playaway. And his 2007 novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union is available on Playaway from Recorded Books.)
I'm still not sure I get what this whole "daughter" phenomenon is about. Maybe I'll ask my daughter...
Posted by David Perrotta, MLIS
Playaway Sr. Manager for Content Strategy
