The most complex and unexplored relationship in a woman's life is with her father. If their bond is close, she is referred to as "Daddy's little girl." As cute as that may sound in childhood, a "father's daughter" later pays a high price for her favored status. In order to sustain his approval, protection, and love, she often distances herself from her mother and rejects her own feminine nature. By identifying solely with her father, her development as a woman is arrested in daughterhood. In this unique and fascinating look at a pervasive personal and cultural issue, family therapist Maureen Murdock at last reveals the unspoken truth about daughters and the immense power the fathers they idealize have over them. Fathers' Daughters explores how these exclusive relationships affect every aspect of a woman's life. While fathers' daughters are often high achievers in the outside world, their denial of their innate feminine nature wreaks havoc on other aspects of their lives -- from fearing commitment to recklessly choosing a mate, among a host of other personal and professional problems. With revealing case studies and an exploration of the hidden truth in myths, dreams, and fairy tales, Fathers' Daughters makes a clear that the rewards for healing the father-daughter relationship are great -- as a woman will learn to take herself seriously, reclaim the authority she projects onto men, and establish a healthy, balanced sense of herself as a woman.