by Morgan Dick
VIKING
2025/$30.00/344 pp.
Ripples of familial estrangement pulsate through Morgan Dick’s debut novel, Favourite Daughter. Kindergarten teacher Mickey grew up in poverty after her father abandoned her 26 years ago. She’s never forgiven him for the hardship inflicted upon her mother and herself, and prefers the company of children for their lack of guile. Clinical psychologist Arlo is devastated to learn her recently deceased father has cut her from his will, despite Arlo’s lifelong devotion and unwavering end-of-life care for him. Mickey and Arlo are half-sisters. Each is aware of the other, but they’ve never met. Their mutual father’s last-minute estate decision forces that to change.
Destitute Mickey is named sole beneficiary of her estranged father’s multimillion-dollar estate, on the condition that she complete seven sessions of psychotherapy with Arlo, the doting daughter who expected to receive the fortune herself. When the therapeutic relationship begins, neither woman realizes their biological connection, partly because both use nicknames rather than their given names (Michelle and Charlotte). Author Dick does a skilful job in portraying the yin and yang of the sisters’ opposing worldviews and shared traits using a dual point of view in alternating chapters.
Mickey and Arlo are similar in some respects. Each works in a helping profession but struggles for reasons she doesn’t fully understand. Mickey drinks vodka in the school bathroom. Arlo’s preoccupation with her father diminishes her ability to be fully present with psychotherapy clients, leading to allegations of wrongdoing when she fails to prevent a tragic outcome.
Watching each daughter flounder with the professional and social responsibilities of young adulthood occasionally takes the reader into comic territory, but the central narrative never veers far from the cloudy morality of addiction and the mental health challenges that exude from noxious relationships.
As Mickey and Arlo separately grope toward some understanding of their own inherent goodness (or lack thereof) and place in society (or lack thereof), the truth of their sisterly connection begins to emerge, leading to even more ethically questionable behaviour. While the father’s absentee-parenting ploy provokes questions that aren’t fully answered, the novel shines in its thoughtful attention to the ongoing toll of grief in unresolved relationships. What might become possible if a person uniquely equipped to hold up a mirror to your life did precisely that? This story will resonate with readers who enjoy angsty family dramas, have a soft spot for messy protagonists, and anyone curious about how a dysfunctional family might hash things out if circumstance were to bring them together.
Jessica Waite’s best-selling memoir was published in 2024.
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