For many women, fathers are a mystery that puzzles and haunts us. They are “the other,” neither lover nor son, defined more often by silence than words, by emotional absence than physical presence—until now.

In twenty-two original narratives, some of Canada’s most acclaimed writers share stories, memories, insights, and revelations—from the comic to the tragic, and every shading in between—about the first man in their lives. Complex, compelling, unforgettable, these stories will open a fresh and intense conversation with daughters everywhere about the men they’ve observed since childhood: their fathers.

Contributors
Katherine Ashenburg, Anita Rau Badami, Christie Blatchford, Mary Anne Brinckman, Nancy Dorrance, Jane Finlay-Young, Camilla Gibb, Catherine Gildiner, Rebecca Godfrey, Rachel Manley, Sandra Martin, Lisa Moore, Sarah Murdoch, Marina Nemat, P.K. Page, Emma Richler, Eden Robinson, Rebecca Snow, Tina Srebotnjak, Susan Swan, Emily Urquhart, and Pamela Wallin

Sandra Martin is the obituary columnist at the Globe and Mail. She has won the Atkinson and Canadian Journalism Fellowships and multiple National Magazine Awards. She is the editor of the critically acclaimed collection The First Man in My Life: Daughters Write about Their Fathers, and was also the co-editor of the annual Oberon Best Short Stories and Coming Attractions anthologies, and is the co-author of three books, including Rupert Brooke in Canada and Card Tricks: Bankers, Boomers, and the Explosion of Plastic Credit, which was shortlisted for the Canadian Business Book Award. A past president of PEN Canada, she lives in Toronto with her husband and her cat, Alice.

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