My Father's List

On the cusp of middle age, a newlywed journalist discovers and finishes the bucket list of her late free-spirited father.

Fifty-four adventures in six years. That’s what thirty-eight-year-old journalist Laura Carney embarked on when she discovered her late father Mick’s bucket list.

Killed in a car crash when Laura was twenty-five, Mick seemed lost forever. My Father’s List is the story of how one woman—with the help of family, friends, and even strangers—found the courage to go after her own dreams after realizing those of a beloved yet mysterious man. This is a story about secrets—and the freedom we feel when we learn to trust again: in life, in love, and in a father’s lessons on how to fully live.

“[Carney’s] narration is both vulnerable and strong as she relates how, in living out her father’s unfulfilled dreams, she developed compassion for his hidden life, discovered strengths that she never knew she had, learned how much the two of them had in common, and realized the truth of the old saying that ‘everything good is on the other side of fear.’ My Father’s List is a poignant memoir about a father-daughter relationship whose love transcended death.”

- Foreword Reviews

“Brave, big-hearted, compulsively readable, My Father’s List is a joyful affirmation of embracing life to its fullest after a terrible loss. Carney’s energy to fulfill her father’s dreams is infectious, and her refreshing vulnerability had me rooting for her on every page.”

- Katie Arnold, author of Running Home: A Memoir

“Living out her father’s bucket list was the vehicle through which Laura Carney would find herself and her freedom. My Father’s List is a delightful book that reminds us of all the possibility that lies within each of us to do things we never dreamed possible. This book inspires and will touch you deeply.” 

- Siri Lindley, two-time triathlon world champion, Olympic coach, author of Finding a Way: Taking the Impossible and Making It Possible, speaker, survivor, and thriver

“In this call-to-action memoir, Carney pays homage to her deceased father, and in so doing, keeps him very much alive. It made me wonder what dreams felt complete to my own father at the time of his passing. And reinforced what Carney’s father told her: ‘You’re the best thing I’ve ever done.’ We are lucky to have a champion in a father, and I was moved to dream along with my own because of this book.”

-- Laura Munson, author of the New York Times best-selling memoir This Is Not the Story You Think It Is: A Season of Unlikely Happiness 

“With all the memoirs that have been written in recent years, you might think there was nothing new left to do with the form. Laura Carney’s My Father’s List would prove you wrong. This is an original, brave, and inspiring book that will make readers think about their own life goals—and maybe even their lives—in a whole new way.”

-- Ben Yagoda, author of Memoir: A History and About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made

“I lost count of how many times I wiped away tears while reading My Father’s List. What a gorgeous, exhilarating story of perseverance and the beauty we can make from grief.”

-- James Tate Hill, author of Blind Man’s Bluff: A Memoir