Dreamer's Daughter: Surviving My Childhood and Raising My Father

A daughter’s life-affirming memoir about surviving her impoverished childhood, and her eccentric and misguided father who failed spectacularly at everything—except being a loving parent, for readers of Cea Sunrise Person’s North of Normal, and Pauline Dakin’s Run, Hide, Repeat.

In a mining town where hope is as tapped out as the gold, a mother abandons her two children, leaving them in the custody of their free-spirited father. Colorful and larger-than-life, Dacker is a dreamer who fails spectacularly at everything except loving his kids. When they lose everything in a house fire, Dacker considers this the ultimate freedom and leads his children on a cross-country road trip that will force them to rely on his wits and dubious judgment. Amid the chaos, Lori must raise herself and her younger brother—and, on occasion, her father. When she strives for independence, she discovers that it’s hard to leave home when home has wheels and keeps following you around.

A coming-of-age memoir in the tradition of Run Hide Repeat and North of Normal, Dreamer’s Daughter is a life-affirming story about forgiving our parents—and ourselves. It’s a celebration of the love we find in even the most unconventional families, and how sometimes we need to leave home to find our way back.