The Good Daughter: A memoir of losing my father and finding home - Softcover

Taguchi, Kumi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1925750795 ISBN 13: 9781925750799

Publisher: Scribner Australia, 2025

Synopsis

In a beautifully crafted memoir of captivating emotional honesty, the SBS Insight host sets out to understand the dad she never really knew, and – along the way – herself.  

Growing up, Kumi Taguchi thought her father was merely distant: reserved, obsessively frugal and – after her parents’ divorce – almost entirely missing. When he died, Kumi’s feelings about him and the Japanese heritage he had given her remained tangled.  

But just because a parent has gone doesn’t mean they’re absent. Over time Kumi came to understand more about what made her father as he was, including his experiences as a child in wartime Japan and, above all, the culture she both loved and felt burdened by. She decided to travel to Japan to find the family home, and perhaps lay to rest some ghosts.  

In this highly evocative journey of understanding, Kumi explores her divided self: the tension between duty and freedom; the people she’s felt drawn to and lost; and how to find your place when caught between two worlds. 

About this title

About the Author

Born in Melbourne, Victoria to her Japanese father and Australian mother, Kumi Taguchi grew up in rural New South Wales learning classical violin from the age of five. She has worked in the media for over 25 years in Australia and overseas, and is currently the host of SBS's Insight.

Edition details

• Publisher: Scribner Australia
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1925750795
• ISBN 13: 9781925750799
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304