Best Fiction Books About Fatherhood to Read This Father's Day

On her 40th birthday, Alice wakes up to discover she’s back in 1996 and it’s her 16th birthday again. In the present, her dad is dying, but in this past version he’s strong and healthy. As Alice lives life as a teen again, she contemplates whether she could do anything different to change the future, especially her father’s.

I love how time-travel books offer us not only nostalgia, but a chance to revisit all those what-ifs in our lives. This Time Tomorrow packs an extra emotional wallop as Alice reflects on her father’s mortality and the tender bond between them.

Get the tissues ready for this Wally Lamb novel with a heartwrenching plot twist. Corby loves fathering his twin toddlers. But after losing his job, he spirals into addiction, eventually causing the tragic loss of one of the children. His family is shattered, and he’s sent to prison in the aftermath.

Prison is a dark place for Corby in his overwhelming grief, guilt, and despair. But eventually he comes to find moments of kindness, along with a chance to use some of his fathering skills as a role model for a teen in need.

The relationship between a widowed father and his young son will capture your heart in this New York Times bestseller.

After his wife’s death, Theo is the sole caretaker of nine-year-old Robin, a neurodivergent boy who struggles to manage his emotions. Alongside his work as an astrobiologist, Theo explores a way to help his son using a cutting-edge neurofeedback technique.

If you’ve read Richard Powers before, you know the Pulitzer Prize-winning author is excellent at describing nature. But his ability to bring Theo and Robin’s bond to life will also win you over.

After attending art school, Cal returns home to an island in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides to face his complicated relationship with his father, John, a sheep farmer and preacher. Cal has been close to his grandmother since losing his mother, but he hides his sexuality. John, meanwhile, disapproves of Cal’s clothes and lack of devout faith.

If you’re drawn to gorgeous prose or Scottish settings, you’ll be riveted by how the book’s father-son dynamic shifts when changes come to their island community in this Oprah’s Book Club pick from a Booker Prize-winning author.

Toby is a doctor getting a divorce from his ex, Rachel, and stepping his toe into online dating. Yet his life turns upside-down when Rachel leaves the kids with him and takes off without any communication. What follows offers a humorous critique on parenting, as well as gender roles and modern dating, as Toby struggles to balance fatherhood with work and his new, surprisingly active romantic life.

Toby’s tale is narrated by a female friend, which gives a fun, cheeky take on his situation. Read the book before watching the FX miniseries adaptation starring Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, and Lizzy Caplan.

A thirtysomething man gets a crash course in fatherhood in this slim novel. Téo is happy living the single life in London. But his relationship with Lia, a single mother of a toddler, takes an unexpected turn when Lia dies and Téo must help care for young Joel alongside his friends and a rabbi. On their own, each of them is a bit clueless, but together they might just make it work.

If you’re a fan of books like About a Boy, you’ll love reading how caring for Joel forces Téo to grow up in this moving and funny story.