Never Had a Dad

Fatherless, friendly 31yoF looking for intrepid M50s-70s who wants to try being a father figure (not sugar daddy).

Georgie Codd never had a dad. And she didn’t think she wanted one – until a stranger’s practical joke made her wonder what she was missing. This book tells the story of Georgie’s quest for a father figure, placing notices – dadverts – in newspapers and pursuing the idea all around the globe.

Interwoven with her story of finding a dad – the conversations, meetings, twists and turns of seeking family-style relationships with near-strangers – is a broader look at the societal, cultural and biological role of fathers and family today.

What makes you decide to have or not have a child? What is the experience for single parents, for queer communities, for people who are rejected by their born family or who choose themselves to cut someone off? Why are we seeing an all-time high of children in care this year? How do multiple, step and intergenerational families sit in our culture and perception of family today? Why were so many of the men who wrote to Georgie massive pervs?

By turns brilliant and bonkers, hilarious and poignant, this is an unexpected story of the strange, intimate thing we mean when we talk about family.