Morgan Dick

Welcome, friend! Today we are going to dive into messy families, big decisions, and tender hope that Morgan Dick wrote about in Favorite Daughter. Morgan is based in Calgary and I am always on the lookout to host Canadian authors so it is with great pleasure that I welcome her. First, a little bit about the book and then read on for the interview.

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Get to know the author: Morgan Dick

Hi Morgan! It’s a pleasure to have you on Armed with A Book. To begin, can you tell my readers a little about yourself?

Thank you so much for having me!

I’m a writer and occupational therapist living in Calgary, AB on Treaty 7 Territory. I love to tell stories with dark humour, lots of family drama, and messy, complicated women making questionable choices… When I’m not writing, I like to spend time outdoors hiking, camping, or attempting to stay upright on cross-country skis!

Favorite Daughter is your debut novel. What first inspired the story of Mickey and Arlo?

The premise for Favourite Daughter was partly inspired by watching my own dad, an adoptee, meet his “long-lost” siblings when he was in his late-forties. The experience sparked my curiosity about the things two half-siblings might share—not just their noses or eyebrows but also their habits, hobbies, and even vices—despite having been raised apart.

The structure of “patient and therapist who don’t know they’re sisters” is such a striking setup. Did that idea come to you early, or did it evolve during the writing process?

It definitely came to me early on. I was trying to think of the most awkward possible ways to throw these two half-sisters together, and it dawned on me—therapy! There are a lot of different power dynamics at play in a therapy room, which makes it rich territory for storytelling.

Early on, we get to know Arlo mostly through her grief and her professional struggles. Why did you choose to introduce her that way?

I’m not a psychologist, but I work in an adjacent profession, and that experience has given me a huge appreciation of how careful therapists have to be to keep their own baggage from impacting the work they do with clients. And I knew right away that Arlo would be struggling in this regard. She’s going through a terrible time in her personal life, and we see it bleeding into her sessions with clients. Worse, she’s totally unaware of it, which creates (I hope!) a lot of great tension in the story.

Mickey’s perspective as someone abandoned by her father contrasts sharply with Arlo’s experience of being chosen. How did these different relationships with the same parent shape who they became?

Mickey has ended up with a very Machiavellian attitude toward humanity, i.e. that all people are self-serving scumbags, whereas Arlo has the opposite belief, holding tightly to the idea that people are inherently good. But I actually think these woman might be more similar than they are different.

I often reflected that despite having been raised apart, they still share a history—that is, their father and all the wreckage he left behind in his wake. And although he treated them each very differently, it seemed natural to me that as adults they would respond to certain events in a similar way. (I had a lot of fun playing with this by creating parallels in the narrative—little moments where they have the same thoughts and reactions to things.) Mickey and Arlo also understand each other in a way no one else probably can.

Mickey’s mother often says she wishes she had left first, while Mickey questions Arlo’s mother for staying. What did you want to show through these two very different choices?

It’s so hard for people to change—and yet they do, all the time. A lot of people contemplate a change for years and years before they commit to any real action (or, in Arlo’s mom’s case, before the change gets thrust upon them). When creating the secondary characters, I tried to think about the changes they were considering in their own lives and show them grappling with the different stages of this.

Therapy is at the heart of this novel—sometimes constructive, sometimes complicated. What did you want readers to reflect on about the power (and limits) of therapy?

I believe strongly that people who are struggling can get better. The timing has to be right, and the supports have to be there, but people really can change. And therapy is an important piece of that puzzle for a lot of people.

Personally, it took me a really long time to admit I was struggling with mental health (undiagnosed ADHD, with bouts of depression and anxiety). But once I took that initial step and sought professional help—as Arlo herself does eventually—life opened up for me in ways I honestly never thought I deserved.

That being said, therapists are human beings, too. They’re going to have off-days and make mistakes sometimes, and it’s my opinion that they deserve a bit of grace. (However—do “shop around” for a therapist who’s right for you! And if they resort to unhinged, Arlo-style sleuthing and manipulation, please report them! LOL)

Addiction is another thread running through this story. How did your experiences with social work and addiction inform the novel?

My brother is a recovering alcoholic, and his experiences left a big mark on our whole family. A few scenes from the book—Arlo’s memories of her father, in particular—drew direct inspiration from him. Arlo recalls a moment from her childhood when police brought her father to the door in the middle of the night, for example. That was based on a very vivid memory I have of two police officers appearing at the door with my brother.

He’s in a good place now, and I’m so proud of him. We had a lot of frank conversations about his experiences while I wrote the book, which was incredibly generous!

Mickey’s work as a kindergarten teacher was one of my favorite parts of the book. What did writing about her relationship with children bring to her character?

Thank you! It was one of my favourite parts to write. I’ve worked with preschoolers and kindergarteners for many years, and I’m always astounded by them. (They also tend to be quite weird, which I appreciate.) 

I think that Mickey finds a sense of safety among children. She never has to question their motives or intentions, which is something she’s learned to do with adults in her life. Her work shows her own capacity for love and selflessness, but it also shows what she’s missing. 

She’s also very good at her job. I wanted to show that addiction can lurk in unexpected corners and affect people—very successful people—we often wouldn’t expect.

Do you see yourself more in one sister than the other? Or do they both hold pieces of you?

I see pieces of myself in each of them for sure. I share Mickey’s passion for working with young children, and her outwardly messy/awkward/chaotic vibe is definitely me. Arlo, meanwhile, can be quite the control freak and perfectionist, and there are times when I relate to that as well.

There’s a lot of tension around inheritance and legacy here. What do you hope readers take away about the impact of what parents leave behind—financially or emotionally?

There’s a point late in the novel when Mickey says, “It’s not my fault that I’m this way, but it is my job to get better.” Parental relationships, low socio-economic status, adverse childhood experiences, genetics—these are all things that can contribute to mental health challenges in young people and adults. The impact of that stuff is very real, and it’s largely out of our control. But I also think that, with the right supports, we can learn to respond differently and move forward. That’s what both these characters are working toward.

Grief shows up differently for Arlo and Mickey. What was the most challenging aspect of writing about grief while balancing dark humor in the story?

I’ve always been drawn to stories that balance sadness with humour. Real life is usually both these things at once, and stories that lean too far one way or the other tend to feel untrue to me—and too easy!

I haven’t ever lost a parent myself, so I was quite nervous to be writing about that experience, and I took a lot of care to (hopefully) do it some justice. I talked to a lot of people and listened to a lot of interviews with folks who had lost a close loved one. And my editors did an incredible job at pushing me to dig deeper where I needed to.

Do you have favorite books or films about siblings that inspired you?

Oh, so many. The sister relationship in FLEABAG was definitely an inspiration to me, as were books like Emma Straub’s ALL ADULTS HERE and Kevin Wilson’s THE FAMILY FANG. Meg Mason’s SORROW AND BLISS is another one. I always love some messy sibling dynamics!

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Thank you so much for these insightful questions!

Thank you so much for spending time with me and letting readers peek behind the curtain of your creative world.

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Thanks for joining us! Add this book on Goodreads. It is available wherever books are sold! You can find my review here.