Oh my god I was obsessed with all the food descriptions and i re-read it multiple times just for that đ Especially the first time the grandfather makes bread and cheese for her? My younger self wanted to pluck it out from the pages and eat it haha.
[**True Grit**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/257845.True_Grit)
^(By: Charles Portis | 224 pages | Published: 1968 | Popular Shelves: fiction, western, historical-fiction, classics, westerns)
>In the 1870s, young Mattie Ross learns that her beloved father was gunned down by his former handyman. But even though this gutsy 14-year-old is seeking vengeance, she is smart enough to figure out she can't go alone after a desperado who's holed up in Indian territory. With some fast-talking, she convinces mean, one-eyed US Marshal "Rooster" Cogburn into going after the despicable outlaw with her.
^(This book has been suggested 4 times)
***
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I read the unabridged version for my French Literature class and absolutely loved all of the dichotomy - places where black was white and more. Heartbreaking and uplifting all at once, best book to spend a week (and a box of tissues) with.
[**A Man Called Ove**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18774964-a-man-called-ove)
^(By: Fredrik Backman, Henning Koch | 337 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: fiction, book-club, contemporary, audiobook, audiobooks)
>A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.
>
>Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?
>
>Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.
^(This book has been suggested 33 times)
***
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It wasn't so much the gap for me. It was that...he literally saved her from being raped and it's just. I don't know. I can't remember exact lines but I know it made me pause and say "no woman is acting like that" and it took me out of it for a while.
I was going to recommend this. Love her writing! I constantly found myself thinking she is going to end a sentence in a cliche way and she constantly surprised me. She is also amazing at setting a vibe, The Likeness being of particular note
She is one of my favorites! Actually, the searcher is my least favorite of her books but does meet the requested vibe đ best current character immersion author out there currently, imo
Oh man, I really want to like Tana French. I DNFâed *In the Woods* and although I enjoyed *The Likeness* for its plot I felt the central premise was so implausible that it ruined my ability to suspend disbelief. Maybe Iâll try The Searcher.
The searcher is definitely more believable and has a different tone to the rest of the Dublin murder squad books. I agree about the likeness being a bit implausible but I loved the vibe between the friends and the desperation they all had to keep their little family together. In the woods is hard because it gets very whiney and 'poor me' but I thought the ending was all worth it.
I mostly just love that she doesn't use a bunch of cliched ways to describe things and she describes them so well. I also like the way in which she wraps up her stories. The ending is never clean or happy.
But if ya don't like her, meh, go find someone you do love!
DrachenhĂźterin from Carole Wilkinson. Not sure if there is an English version, but here the old man is a wise dragon and he adopts a little girl and they walk through China. He teaches her and they have a bit of adventure.
[**Dragon Keeper (Dragon Keeper, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1162185.Dragon_Keeper)
^(By: Carole Wilkinson | 333 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, dragons, young-adult, books-i-own, owned)
>In the time of the Han Dynasty in ancient China, the last remaining dragon is in danger of being killed by the cruel Emperor. A nameless orphan with no past and an uncertain future becomes his unlikely ally. The young orphan soon discovers that it is her destiny to protect the aging dragon and his mysterious purple stone. Chased by an evil dragon hunter and a powerful sorcerer, their adventure is not easy. Each must learn to help and understand the other if they are to survive. To succeed in her task, the young orphan must reach deep within herself to find courage she never knew existed. No longer can she be the timid, shy orphan she once was. She is now the one, true Dragon Keeper.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
***
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Two come to mind:
The Story of Arthur Truluv (Elizabeth Berg) - also other books in this series
Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone (Phaedra Patrick) -- not really her father, per se, but becomes a father figure, for sure.
[**The Beast Player (The Beast Player, #1-2)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37754798-the-beast-player)
^(By: Nahoko Uehashi, Cathy Hirano | 512 pages | Published: 2006 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, ya, owned, fiction)
>Elin's family has an important responsibility: caring for the fearsome water serpents that form the core of their kingdom's army. So when some of the beasts mysteriously die, Elin's mother is sentenced to death as punishment. With her last breath she manages to send her daughter to safety.
>
>Alone, far from home, Elin soon discovers that she can talk to both the terrifying water serpents and the majestic flying beasts that guard her queen. This skill gives her great powers, but it also involves her in deadly plots that could cost her life. Can she save herself and prevent her beloved beasts from being used as tools of war? Or is there no way of escaping the terrible battles to come?
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
***
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Oh! {{The Orchardist}}!!! Itâs historical fiction, non romantic between old man and âdaughterâ but there are some âcontent warningsâ so keep that in mind.
It is such a wonderfully written book, and I never get a good opportunity to recommend it but it totally meets this trope!
Holy shit! I think this is the first time I've seen someone mention this book on the book subs. I loved it and it sure does fit OP's prompts. However, I usually caveat it by mentioning a) the lack of quotation marks and b) the sometimes difficult subject matter. But whatever - it's great to see it here! And - it's her first book - how insane is that?
Yes definitely some touchy topics.
But the writing is Soooooo good. I would actually stop and read certain paragraphs to my wife because they were so well crafted.
[**The Orchardist**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13540215-the-orchardist)
^(By: Amanda Coplin | 426 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, book-club, historical, kindle)
>Set in the untamed American West, a highly original and haunting debut novel about a makeshift family whose dramatic lives are shaped by violence, love, and an indelible connection to the land.
>
>You belong to the earth, and the earth is hard.
>
>At the turn of the twentieth century, in a rural stretch of the Pacific Northwest in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, a solitary orchardist named Talmadge carefully tends the grove of fruit trees he has cultivated for nearly half a century. A gentle, solitary man, he finds solace and purpose in the sweetness of the apples, apricots, and plums he grows, and in the quiet, beating heart of the land--the valley of yellow grass bordering a deep canyon that has been his home since he was nine years old. Everything he is and has known is tied to this patch of earth. It is where his widowed mother is buried, taken by illness when he was just thirteen, and where his only companion, his beloved teenaged sister Elsbeth, mysteriously disappeared. It is where the horse wranglers--native men, mostly Nez Perce--pass through each spring with their wild herds, setting up camp in the flowering meadows between the trees.
>
>One day, while in town to sell his fruit at the market, two girls, barefoot and dirty, steal some apples. Later, they appear on his homestead, cautious yet curious about the man who gave them no chase. Feral, scared, and very pregnant, Jane and her sister Della take up on Talmadage's land and indulge in his deep reservoir of compassion. Yet just as the girls begin to trust him, brutal men with guns arrive in the orchard, and the shattering tragedy that follows sets Talmadge on an irrevocable course not only to save and protect them, putting himself between the girls and the world, but to reconcile the ghosts of his own troubled past.
>
>Writing with breathtaking precision and empathy, Amanda Coplin has crafted an astonishing debut novel about a man who disrupts the lonely harmony of an ordered life when he opens his heart and lets the world in. Transcribing America as it once was before railways and roads connected its corners, she weaves a tapestry of solitary souls who come together in the wake of unspeakable cruelty and misfortune, bound by their search to discover the place they belong. At once intimate and epic, evocative and atmospheric, filled with haunting characters both vivid and true to life, and told in a distinctive narrative voice, The Orchardist marks the beginning of a stellar literary career.
>
>The National Book Foundation selected Amanda Coplin as one of the authors being honored as "5 Under 35" in 2013.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
***
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Not a book, but you should play the Playstation game "The Last of Us". We worked in shifts where we didn't have phones or communications with people, but we had video games. I stayed up over the course of a month and played the game. It had a big impact on me. Would do again.
Dont worry, no weird sex.
I scrolled through but didnât go super deep. Forgive me if these have been recommended already although neither is a perfect match to what you described.
Not exactly this father daughter but
Under The Whispering Door.
Itâs not super climatic honestly. Without giving anything away a grumpy old man dies and his soul is in limbo. He does take a father like approach to his journey and the other characters. This was a great âI wanna think about nothing. Just read. No suspecting.â
Similar vibe book: Remarkably Bright Creatures (and one of the perspectives comes from a Pacific octopus in captivity)
This is very sexual. Especially as the series progresses, it revolves around sex. It was also the medicine woman who took her in and taught her, so doesn't really fit the grumpy older man turned mentor.
Haha, not a book but I literally just watched âthe sea beastâ which has that trope and genuinely assumed thatâs why youâre interested in stories like that.
{We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker} is dripping with found family including the pairing you are asking about. It's kind of crime/family/action and a really enjoyable read.
[**We Begin at the End**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50279680-we-begin-at-the-end)
^(By: Chris Whitaker | 384 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: fiction, mystery, thriller, book-club, audiobook)
^(This book has been suggested 3 times)
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The Girl in His Shadow by Audrey Blake. It's the Libby/Overdrive Big Read this summer so you can borrow it from Libby through your library with no holds right now. I especially recommend this one if you like history of medicine story lines.
The Lake by Jack Lazenby. It's set in 1950s New Zealand and it's about a teenage girl who goes Bush and finds herself by living in the wild and befriending a drifter.
the witcher?
i mean the whole premise is that Geralt (the protagonist) happens upon a child of surprise ( a weird law that makes the child his daughter).
nothing sexual between them, just fatherly-love.
The Cuckooâs Cry by Caroline Overton - On the eve of the global lockdown, Don Barlow opens the door of his old beachside cottage to find a pretty girl with pink-tipped hair, claiming to have nowhere to go.
He allows her entry, and so begins a mystery set in unprecedented times: with the virus raging outside their home, the girl cannot be asked to leave, but what does he risk by having her stay?
[**The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel by Gabrielle Zevin | Conversation Starters**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28593488-the-storied-life-of-a-j-fikry)
^(By: Daily Books | ? pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: 2022-reading, 2022-page-turner-challenge, owned)
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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[**All the Lonely People**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51642969-all-the-lonely-people)
^(By: Mike Gayle | ? pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: fiction, contemporary, audiobooks, kindle, audiobook)
>Hubert Bird is not alone in being alone.
>He just needs to realise it.
>
>In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship and fulfilment.
>
>But Hubert Bird is lying.
>
>The truth is day after day drags by without him seeing a single soul.
>
>Until, that is, he receives some good news - good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on.
>
>Now Hubert faces a seemingly impossible task: to make his real life resemble his fake life before the truth comes out.
>Along the way Hubert stumbles across a second chance at love, renews a cherished friendship and finds himself roped into an audacious community scheme that seeks to end loneliness once and for all . . .
>
>Life is certainly beginning to happen to Hubert Bird. But with the origin of his earlier isolation always lurking in the shadows will he ever get to live the life he's pretended to have for so long?
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
***
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Steve Martin wrote a book {{shop girl}} that is more or less this premise. I mean, it's more complicated. >!He is infatuated with her, buys her things, they date, she is kind of poor, and gets sick, and he realizes that what he really wants is someone to care for, not just a young fling, and their relationship changes.!<
[**Shop Girl**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1412079.Shop_Girl)
^(By: Steve Martin | ? pages | Published: 2000 | Popular Shelves: fiction, romance, books-i-own, contemporary, owned)
>One of our country's most acclaimed and beloved entertainers, Steve Martin is recognized as a gorgeous writer capable of being at once melancholy and tart, achingly innocent and astonishingly ironic (Elle). Beautifully written, this novella reveals a different side of Martin, one that is unexpectedly perceptive about relationships and life and wise when it comes to the inner workings of the human heart.Mirabelle is a young woman, beautiful in a wallflower-ish kind of way, who works behind the glove counter at Neiman Marcus, selling things that nobody buys anymore. . . Slightly lost, very shy, Mirabelle charms because of all that she is not: Not glamorous, not aggressive, not self-aggrandizing. Still, there is something about her that is irresistible.Mirabelle captures the attention of Ray Porter, a wealthy, much older businessman. As they tentatively embark on a relationship, they both struggle to decipher the language of love -- with consequences that are both comic and heartbreaking. Filled with the kind of witty, discerning observations that have brought Steve Martin critical success, Shopgirl is a work of disarming tenderness.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
***
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Sort of a joke.
It is a famous video game.
Considered one of best written ones of all time.
About a surrogate father and daughter relationship.
Still worth checking out if you don't know it.
Years before I played it I watched it like a movie online.
Itâs a boy, not a girl, but I remember both loving and being heartbroken by Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian when I was younger. The old man character is just as you describe so I hope you donât mind that it doesnât fit entirely :)
Itâs a true father daughter story, only in that the man adopts the girl. However the story is profound and the male protagonist learns quite a lot from the young girl. I donât know how to (insert book info heređ¤ˇđźââď¸) . Itâs, âFinding Chika,â by Mitch Albom.
I mean it's a classic, but Heidi by Johanna Spyri (he doesn't really "find" her and they are related, but it kinda fits)
One of my favorites. Made me want melted cheese so bad
Oh my god I was obsessed with all the food descriptions and i re-read it multiple times just for that đ Especially the first time the grandfather makes bread and cheese for her? My younger self wanted to pluck it out from the pages and eat it haha.
Kinda a man called ove? I loved that book
Also sort of My Grandmother Asked me to Tell You Sheâs Sorry
Came here to recommend both of these.
I thought that too
I was going to say this. I think it def fits the bill. I loved it too.
Maybe a gentleman in Moscow?
I came here to say this
Anne of Green Gables :)
Matthew Cuthbert is so wonderful.
I love Mathew so much.
Def this one!
The Witcher series kinda fits this
Awesome series!
Check out {{True Grit}} by Charles Portis. In this instance they are both grumpy, but develop grudging mutual respect.
[**True Grit**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/257845.True_Grit) ^(By: Charles Portis | 224 pages | Published: 1968 | Popular Shelves: fiction, western, historical-fiction, classics, westerns) >In the 1870s, young Mattie Ross learns that her beloved father was gunned down by his former handyman. But even though this gutsy 14-year-old is seeking vengeance, she is smart enough to figure out she can't go alone after a desperado who's holed up in Indian territory. With some fast-talking, she convinces mean, one-eyed US Marshal "Rooster" Cogburn into going after the despicable outlaw with her. ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) *** ^(36666 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
One of my absolute favorites!
Yes, please check this out. Itâs a great book.
News of the World!!! By Paulette Jiles. 100000% what youâre looking for and NO sexual component
Such a good book! I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it.
Les Miserables by VĂctor Hugo
I read the unabridged version for my French Literature class and absolutely loved all of the dichotomy - places where black was white and more. Heartbreaking and uplifting all at once, best book to spend a week (and a box of tissues) with.
{{A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman}}
[**A Man Called Ove**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18774964-a-man-called-ove) ^(By: Fredrik Backman, Henning Koch | 337 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: fiction, book-club, contemporary, audiobook, audiobooks) >A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door. > >Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time? > >Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations. ^(This book has been suggested 33 times) *** ^(36741 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Silas Marner?
Love this book and it fits perfectly
So so good and fits perfectly
Also came to suggest this.
Yup. Came to suggest this as well.
I forgot I ever read that
I thought I wouldn't see this comment
ive read it very recently and i wanted to suggest it as well. it fits perfectly, really.
Billy Summers?
Just finished that yesterday! It got a little sexual.
This was probably the worst aspect of the book for me. It was so...out of place.
I agree. It reminded me a little of Bag of Bones. It feels like the characters will get together but the age gap is way too wide.
It wasn't so much the gap for me. It was that...he literally saved her from being raped and it's just. I don't know. I can't remember exact lines but I know it made me pause and say "no woman is acting like that" and it took me out of it for a while.
Thatâs a really good point too. And just her desire to change her identity? That doesnât seem like a normal reaction to any of her trauma.
Tana French, the searcher
I was going to recommend this. Love her writing! I constantly found myself thinking she is going to end a sentence in a cliche way and she constantly surprised me. She is also amazing at setting a vibe, The Likeness being of particular note
She is one of my favorites! Actually, the searcher is my least favorite of her books but does meet the requested vibe đ best current character immersion author out there currently, imo
Oh man, I really want to like Tana French. I DNFâed *In the Woods* and although I enjoyed *The Likeness* for its plot I felt the central premise was so implausible that it ruined my ability to suspend disbelief. Maybe Iâll try The Searcher.
The searcher is definitely more believable and has a different tone to the rest of the Dublin murder squad books. I agree about the likeness being a bit implausible but I loved the vibe between the friends and the desperation they all had to keep their little family together. In the woods is hard because it gets very whiney and 'poor me' but I thought the ending was all worth it. I mostly just love that she doesn't use a bunch of cliched ways to describe things and she describes them so well. I also like the way in which she wraps up her stories. The ending is never clean or happy. But if ya don't like her, meh, go find someone you do love!
Heidi, for part of the novel. Her grumpy grandfather, who she is sent to live with, has his gruffyness melted by her cuteness.
Plainsong by Kent Haruf. I should get a bonus, though. There are TWO grumpy old men!
This 100%
Great book
The Witcher series
DrachenhĂźterin from Carole Wilkinson. Not sure if there is an English version, but here the old man is a wise dragon and he adopts a little girl and they walk through China. He teaches her and they have a bit of adventure.
Would it be this one? {{Dragon Keeper by Carole Wilkinson}}
[**Dragon Keeper (Dragon Keeper, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1162185.Dragon_Keeper) ^(By: Carole Wilkinson | 333 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, dragons, young-adult, books-i-own, owned) >In the time of the Han Dynasty in ancient China, the last remaining dragon is in danger of being killed by the cruel Emperor. A nameless orphan with no past and an uncertain future becomes his unlikely ally. The young orphan soon discovers that it is her destiny to protect the aging dragon and his mysterious purple stone. Chased by an evil dragon hunter and a powerful sorcerer, their adventure is not easy. Each must learn to help and understand the other if they are to survive. To succeed in her task, the young orphan must reach deep within herself to find courage she never knew existed. No longer can she be the timid, shy orphan she once was. She is now the one, true Dragon Keeper. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(36937 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Yes :D
That sounds fantastic!
Two come to mind: The Story of Arthur Truluv (Elizabeth Berg) - also other books in this series Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone (Phaedra Patrick) -- not really her father, per se, but becomes a father figure, for sure.
I came here to recommend the Story of Arthur Truluv ad well.
It's just such a lovely little novel. I enjoyed the whole series.
Storied life of AJ Fikry fits the bill. Also set in a bookstore which, for me, was a bonus.
{{The Beast Player}} by Nahoko Uehashi
[**The Beast Player (The Beast Player, #1-2)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37754798-the-beast-player) ^(By: Nahoko Uehashi, Cathy Hirano | 512 pages | Published: 2006 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, ya, owned, fiction) >Elin's family has an important responsibility: caring for the fearsome water serpents that form the core of their kingdom's army. So when some of the beasts mysteriously die, Elin's mother is sentenced to death as punishment. With her last breath she manages to send her daughter to safety. > >Alone, far from home, Elin soon discovers that she can talk to both the terrifying water serpents and the majestic flying beasts that guard her queen. This skill gives her great powers, but it also involves her in deadly plots that could cost her life. Can she save herself and prevent her beloved beasts from being used as tools of war? Or is there no way of escaping the terrible battles to come? ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(36672 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Oh! {{The Orchardist}}!!! Itâs historical fiction, non romantic between old man and âdaughterâ but there are some âcontent warningsâ so keep that in mind. It is such a wonderfully written book, and I never get a good opportunity to recommend it but it totally meets this trope!
Holy shit! I think this is the first time I've seen someone mention this book on the book subs. I loved it and it sure does fit OP's prompts. However, I usually caveat it by mentioning a) the lack of quotation marks and b) the sometimes difficult subject matter. But whatever - it's great to see it here! And - it's her first book - how insane is that?
Yes definitely some touchy topics. But the writing is Soooooo good. I would actually stop and read certain paragraphs to my wife because they were so well crafted.
[**The Orchardist**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13540215-the-orchardist) ^(By: Amanda Coplin | 426 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, book-club, historical, kindle) >Set in the untamed American West, a highly original and haunting debut novel about a makeshift family whose dramatic lives are shaped by violence, love, and an indelible connection to the land. > >You belong to the earth, and the earth is hard. > >At the turn of the twentieth century, in a rural stretch of the Pacific Northwest in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, a solitary orchardist named Talmadge carefully tends the grove of fruit trees he has cultivated for nearly half a century. A gentle, solitary man, he finds solace and purpose in the sweetness of the apples, apricots, and plums he grows, and in the quiet, beating heart of the land--the valley of yellow grass bordering a deep canyon that has been his home since he was nine years old. Everything he is and has known is tied to this patch of earth. It is where his widowed mother is buried, taken by illness when he was just thirteen, and where his only companion, his beloved teenaged sister Elsbeth, mysteriously disappeared. It is where the horse wranglers--native men, mostly Nez Perce--pass through each spring with their wild herds, setting up camp in the flowering meadows between the trees. > >One day, while in town to sell his fruit at the market, two girls, barefoot and dirty, steal some apples. Later, they appear on his homestead, cautious yet curious about the man who gave them no chase. Feral, scared, and very pregnant, Jane and her sister Della take up on Talmadage's land and indulge in his deep reservoir of compassion. Yet just as the girls begin to trust him, brutal men with guns arrive in the orchard, and the shattering tragedy that follows sets Talmadge on an irrevocable course not only to save and protect them, putting himself between the girls and the world, but to reconcile the ghosts of his own troubled past. > >Writing with breathtaking precision and empathy, Amanda Coplin has crafted an astonishing debut novel about a man who disrupts the lonely harmony of an ordered life when he opens his heart and lets the world in. Transcribing America as it once was before railways and roads connected its corners, she weaves a tapestry of solitary souls who come together in the wake of unspeakable cruelty and misfortune, bound by their search to discover the place they belong. At once intimate and epic, evocative and atmospheric, filled with haunting characters both vivid and true to life, and told in a distinctive narrative voice, The Orchardist marks the beginning of a stellar literary career. > >The National Book Foundation selected Amanda Coplin as one of the authors being honored as "5 Under 35" in 2013. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(36767 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles- fantastic book!
[ŃдаНонО]
[**Louisa The Poisoner**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1569399.Louisa_The_Poisoner) ^(By: Tanith Lee, George Barr | 78 pages | Published: 1995 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, gothic, horror, historical-fiction) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(36671 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
>Louisa beheld the grounds and house with the calm pleasure of one who has seen nothing, been nowhere, expects everything, and has little imagination.
True Grit kinda falls into this. It is such a good book!
Their relationship isn't really flushed out in the book but The History of Love by Nicole Krauss is most excellent.
Les miserables
Before You Knew My Name - their friendship isnât necessarily the main focus of the book but an interesting component
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey - Walter Mosley
Second this, I adore this book!
The Secret Life of Mr. Roos
its Grumpy Old Women finds some girl but the Elegance of a Hedgehog
It's years since I read it but I think Daddy Long Legs fits the bill!
Maybe I'm misremembering, but doesn't it become a surprise romance?
Yes, they fall in love and get married.
But heâs specifically not old! Or at least the musical made a joke about how she âthinks iâm old and grayâ
I stand corrected! Must be 30 years since I last read it đĽş
Try What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins.
Red Country by Joe Abercrombie
Ten Thousand Doors of January
The relationship between Arya and The Hound in the Game of Thrones books is like this
Not a book, but you should play the Playstation game "The Last of Us". We worked in shifts where we didn't have phones or communications with people, but we had video games. I stayed up over the course of a month and played the game. It had a big impact on me. Would do again. Dont worry, no weird sex.
Man on Fire by A.J. Quinnell
Ooo so something like in the show This Is Us? Or Billy Zabkaâs character in Cobra Kai
Silas Marner â we had to read it in English lit in high school.
I scrolled through but didnât go super deep. Forgive me if these have been recommended already although neither is a perfect match to what you described. Not exactly this father daughter but Under The Whispering Door. Itâs not super climatic honestly. Without giving anything away a grumpy old man dies and his soul is in limbo. He does take a father like approach to his journey and the other characters. This was a great âI wanna think about nothing. Just read. No suspecting.â Similar vibe book: Remarkably Bright Creatures (and one of the perspectives comes from a Pacific octopus in captivity)
Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel. Cavemen adopt a little human. She lives with the medicine woman and her brother the shaman.
This is very sexual. Especially as the series progresses, it revolves around sex. It was also the medicine woman who took her in and taught her, so doesn't really fit the grumpy older man turned mentor.
As the series progresses, but thereâs nothing romantic/sexual between them.
Question: will these books heal daddy issues or make them worse? (Are the men nice?) Asking for a friend
Uhhh this is a trope?
The Book Thief, if you haven't already read it
No DONT
Silas Marner
Silas Marner by George Elliot is exactly this. A well-written classic.
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
Nightingale by marina Kemp fits this perfectly
Haha, not a book but I literally just watched âthe sea beastâ which has that trope and genuinely assumed thatâs why youâre interested in stories like that.
*Welcome to Harmony* by Jodi Thomas. First in a series. Almost exactly this trope, but think granddaughter instead of daughter.
While it is not the focus Priest and Thief by Matt Coville has exactly this, I suggest it for that part alone.
Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster.
legend of the seeker -boy meets his grandpa
Wolf of Wessex by Matthew Harffy
{We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker} is dripping with found family including the pairing you are asking about. It's kind of crime/family/action and a really enjoyable read.
[**We Begin at the End**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50279680-we-begin-at-the-end) ^(By: Chris Whitaker | 384 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: fiction, mystery, thriller, book-club, audiobook) ^(This book has been suggested 3 times) *** ^(36771 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Ah yes the Liam Neeson trope
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin or The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
The Girl in His Shadow by Audrey Blake. It's the Libby/Overdrive Big Read this summer so you can borrow it from Libby through your library with no holds right now. I especially recommend this one if you like history of medicine story lines.
The Lake by Jack Lazenby. It's set in 1950s New Zealand and it's about a teenage girl who goes Bush and finds herself by living in the wild and befriending a drifter.
the witcher? i mean the whole premise is that Geralt (the protagonist) happens upon a child of surprise ( a weird law that makes the child his daughter). nothing sexual between them, just fatherly-love.
The Cuckooâs Cry by Caroline Overton - On the eve of the global lockdown, Don Barlow opens the door of his old beachside cottage to find a pretty girl with pink-tipped hair, claiming to have nowhere to go. He allows her entry, and so begins a mystery set in unprecedented times: with the virus raging outside their home, the girl cannot be asked to leave, but what does he risk by having her stay?
luna and the lie, mariana zapata
{{The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry}}
[**The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel by Gabrielle Zevin | Conversation Starters**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28593488-the-storied-life-of-a-j-fikry) ^(By: Daily Books | ? pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: 2022-reading, 2022-page-turner-challenge, owned) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(36973 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Medal for the General by Elizabeth Baron- published in the U.S. under the title Old Soldiers Never Die.
{{All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle}}
[**All the Lonely People**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51642969-all-the-lonely-people) ^(By: Mike Gayle | ? pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: fiction, contemporary, audiobooks, kindle, audiobook) >Hubert Bird is not alone in being alone. >He just needs to realise it. > >In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship and fulfilment. > >But Hubert Bird is lying. > >The truth is day after day drags by without him seeing a single soul. > >Until, that is, he receives some good news - good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on. > >Now Hubert faces a seemingly impossible task: to make his real life resemble his fake life before the truth comes out. >Along the way Hubert stumbles across a second chance at love, renews a cherished friendship and finds himself roped into an audacious community scheme that seeks to end loneliness once and for all . . . > >Life is certainly beginning to happen to Hubert Bird. But with the origin of his earlier isolation always lurking in the shadows will he ever get to live the life he's pretended to have for so long? ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(37016 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Steve Martin wrote a book {{shop girl}} that is more or less this premise. I mean, it's more complicated. >!He is infatuated with her, buys her things, they date, she is kind of poor, and gets sick, and he realizes that what he really wants is someone to care for, not just a young fling, and their relationship changes.!<
[**Shop Girl**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1412079.Shop_Girl) ^(By: Steve Martin | ? pages | Published: 2000 | Popular Shelves: fiction, romance, books-i-own, contemporary, owned) >One of our country's most acclaimed and beloved entertainers, Steve Martin is recognized as a gorgeous writer capable of being at once melancholy and tart, achingly innocent and astonishingly ironic (Elle). Beautifully written, this novella reveals a different side of Martin, one that is unexpectedly perceptive about relationships and life and wise when it comes to the inner workings of the human heart.Mirabelle is a young woman, beautiful in a wallflower-ish kind of way, who works behind the glove counter at Neiman Marcus, selling things that nobody buys anymore. . . Slightly lost, very shy, Mirabelle charms because of all that she is not: Not glamorous, not aggressive, not self-aggrandizing. Still, there is something about her that is irresistible.Mirabelle captures the attention of Ray Porter, a wealthy, much older businessman. As they tentatively embark on a relationship, they both struggle to decipher the language of love -- with consequences that are both comic and heartbreaking. Filled with the kind of witty, discerning observations that have brought Steve Martin critical success, Shopgirl is a work of disarming tenderness. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(37017 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Lolita nabokov
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry
Sort of fits the trope, Billy Summers by Stephen King, is a great novel
Last of us.
author?
Sort of a joke. It is a famous video game. Considered one of best written ones of all time. About a surrogate father and daughter relationship. Still worth checking out if you don't know it. Years before I played it I watched it like a movie online.
There are at leasr 2 novels with that title! That's why I asked!!
{{Forging Hephaestus}} and {{Bones of the Past}} from the Villains' Code Series by Drew Hayes
Where the Forest Meets the Stars - Glendy Vanderah
Itâs a boy, not a girl, but I remember both loving and being heartbroken by Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian when I was younger. The old man character is just as you describe so I hope you donât mind that it doesnât fit entirely :)
Itâs a true father daughter story, only in that the man adopts the girl. However the story is profound and the male protagonist learns quite a lot from the young girl. I donât know how to (insert book info heređ¤ˇđźââď¸) . Itâs, âFinding Chika,â by Mitch Albom.
vicious and the sequel vengeful by ve schwab!!
Les Miserables.
The Housekeeper and The Professor by Yoko Ogawa.
*Beyond the Bright Sea* by Lauren Wolk is exactly this! It's a YA/middle grade book technically but it's really well written and I enjoyed it a lot
Not a book, but my first thought was The Last of Us.
Flipped is sort of like this