Top Ten Tuesday -Ten Great Father Figures in Books

It’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme is a Father’s Day related freebie.

I have been blessed to have loving, supportive men in my family, including my dad, grandpa, uncles and cousins. So in honor of the wonderful men in my life and Father’s Day, I am sharing ten of my favorite fathers and father figures from stories I have read.

FATHERS

Major Reginald Aubrey & Stone Thrower of The Pathfinder’s Series

These two fathers broke my heart. They are bound together by the reckless act Major Aubrey commits when he steals the infant son of Stone Thrower and passes him off as his own. Aubrey loves his adopted son as his own but is tortured by his awful secret. Indian warrior Stone Thrower wrestles with rage, bitterness and unforgiveness and longs to be reunited with the son he never met. Both are fathers with heavy burdens that do not lessen as years pass. When Stone Thrower’s other son forms a connection with Aubrey’s adopted daughter everyone all their secrets are brought to light.

General Seamus Ogilvy of The Mistress of Tall Acre

Seamus Ogilvy has been away fighting for America’s independence. But he misses his home and his young daughter. When he returns he contracts a marriage for the sake of convenience to give his daughter a mother. Seamus may not always know how to connect with his young daughter, but oh how he wants to. With the help of his new wife he works hard to show Lily Cate how much he loves her despite his absences.

Case Walker of The Walker Family Series

Case Walker is a wise sage and the patriarch of the close knit Walker clan. He dispenses wisdom, compassion and understanding so easily and his grown children honor and depend on him. He is a widower who acts as both father and mother and is actively involved in his community. Everyone should have a Case Walker in their life and I really hope that he gets his own love story.

Oscar Marshall of The Covered Deep

Although Bianca Marshall’s father has very little “face time” in this book, his understanding and encouragement is pivotal to her ability to pursue her dream and the adventure that follows. He is a father who knows how to let his daughter spread her wings.

Richard Duvall of the Cheyney Duvall, M.D. Series

Richard Duvall is a man of wealth and privilege, but that doesn’t prejudice him against his only daughter becoming a doctor to the underprivileged in the years following the Civil War. Not only is he a loving, supportive father, but he is also an exemplary husband and human being which gives any man interested in Cheyney very high standards to live up to.

Jake Phillips of the Savannah Series

Another man of comfortable wealth and privilege, poor Jake is often caught between a wife and daughter who constantly misunderstand each other. He love his high-maintenance, image conscious wife, but also encourages and smooths the way for his daughter to pursue her dreams of being a journalist.

STEPFATHERS

Oliver Stewart of Baroness

Although Oliver appears in the first book of the Daughter of Fortune series, it is not really until the second, Baroness, that we see his fatherly instincts exhibited on behalf of a step-daughter who resents him. When his wife and Lilly’s mother dies, he works even harder to reconcile with the only remaining woman in his family.

Jake Finley of The Charmed Life Series

When Bella’s mother marries, she is uprooted from her privileged life in Manhattan and thrust into the foreign world of small town Oklahoma. Poor Bella has extreme difficulty adjusting and resents her mother’s new family, but her step-father is patient and kind while not being afraid to set boundaries for this spoiled girl.

FATHER FIGURES

Jack Sloane of The Red Door Inn

Widowed Jack Sloane only wants to fulfill his wife’s dream of opening a Bed & Breakfast on Prince Edward Island. But when he runs across a woman who looks in dire need of help, he offers her lodging and a job decorating his B&B. His nephew and contractor isn’t at all pleased and highly suspicious, but Jack insists on acting as a father figure for both.

Jack Cornwall of Prairie Fire

This Jack has been grievously misunderstood, but that’s partly due to his own poor choices and behavior. In reality, he only wants to protect his young nephew from the brother-in-law he never liked and also offer a stable home to his mother and sister who have been traumatized by the long years of the Civil War.