To mark Father’s Day, here are some ideas for books with a focus on fatherhood, contributed by friends. I’m sure there are many more but there are some crackers here!

For children

Russell Hoban's 'The Mouse and his Child'.

Roald Dahl's 'Danny the Champion of the World'

‘Mimi’ by John Newman

‘Millions’ by Frank Cottrell Boyce

‘Pippi longsticking’ by Astrid Lindgren

‘Always and Forever’ by Alan Durant, illustrated by Debi Gliori, a story that helps children, parents and teachers talk about death and loss.

‘The Railway Children’ by Edith Nesbit Also about loss, but with the humiliation of imprisonment and the frustration of false accusation.

 

Fiction

Meaghan Delahunt's latest novel 'To the Island'

'To kill a mocking bird', Harper Lee

‘The Last Samurai’ by Helen de Witt Explores all aspects of our idea of the 'perfect' father.

‘The Child in Time’ by Ian McEwan.

 Claire Messud's ‘The Last Life’ 

Katherine Mansfield short story 'The Daughters of the Late Colonel'

 Mary Gaitskill's short story 'Tiny Smiling Daddy' 

 

Non Fiction    

Father and Son' by Edmund Gosse. Wonderful opening lines.

Jackie Kay's 'Red Dust Road'.

Blake Morrison, ‘And when did you last see your father?’

John Burnside, ‘A Lie About My Father’

(And as the photo suggests, a small reminder of my own pocket-sized contribution to non-fiction 'Following our Fathers: Two Journeys among Mountains')