Books and beyond

Daughters sure are welcome in book titles these days, aren’t they? It seems like every other book that comes out these days uses the same construct: The [Insert Job Profession]’s Daughter. Let’s review for those following at home:

• The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2001)
• The Abortionist’s Daughter (2006)
• The Apothecary’s Daughter (2008)
• The Memory Keeper’s Daughter (2005)
• The Coven’s Daughter (2011)
• The Headhunter’s Daughter (2011)
• The Heretic’s Daughter (2008)
• The Demon Trapper’s Daughter (2011)
• The Pope’s Daughter (2005)
• The Lightkeeper’s Daughter (2009)
• The Witch’s Daughter (2011)
• The Butterfly’s Daughter (2011)
• The Hangman’s Daughter (2010)
• The Paramour’s Daughter (2010)
• The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter (seriously?) (2009)
• The Fecund’s Melancholy Daughter (no, I mean it—seriously?) (2011)

Trust me, this isn’t even close to an exhaustive list! Daughters, daughters everywhere, all the titles did shriek!

So what’s going on here? I want to blame Amy Tan for starting the trend, but maybe it was Loretta Lynn, the Coal Miner’s Daughter. I’m writing a novel at the moment that doesn’t even have a female character in it but I’m thinking of titling the manuscript “The Something Something’s Daughter” just to catch the publisher’s attention. The predominance of XX chromosomal offspring in book titles is really staggering. What about the XYs? Don’t fictional people have sons anymore? (To be fair, The Pope’s Daughter and The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter are actually about real people, so they’re somewhat off the hook). Oh well. Capitalizing on a marketing trend may make for a bland book title, but that doesn’t mean the books themselves are bad. Check out these or any other “daughter” titles and let us know what you think about them!