Sky Daddy: A Novel

By Kate Folk

“[A] bizarre and endearing debut . . . We can’t remember the last time we met a character this singular or read a book this funny.”—Oprah Daily (Best New Books to Read This Spring) “Sleek and darkly comical . . . with the melancholic wit and whimsy of Miranda July.”—The Boston Globe Cross the jet bridge with Linda, a frequent flyer with an unusual obsession, in this “audaciously imagined and surprisingly tender” (Rachel Yoder, author of Nightbitch) debut novel by the acclaimed author of Out There. FINALIST FOR THE CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE AND THE VCU CABELL FIRST NOVELIST AWARD A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, Oprah Daily, Vulture, Publishers Weekly, Electric Lit, Debutiful, Book Riot, The Skinny Linda is doing her best to lead a life that would appear normal to the casual observer. Weekdays, she earns $20 an hour moderating comments for a video-sharing platform, then rides the bus home to the windowless garage she rents on the outskirts of San Francisco. But on the last Friday of each month, she indulges her true passion, taking BART to SFO for a round-trip flight to a regional hub. The destination is irrelevant, because each trip means a new date with a handsome stranger—a stranger whose intelligent windscreens, sleek fuselages, and powerful engines make Linda feel a way that no human ever could. . . . Linda knows that she can’t tell anyone she’s sexually obsessed with planes. Nor can she reveal her belief that it’s her destiny to “marry” one of her suitors, uniting with her soulmate plane for eternity. But when an opportunity arises to hasten her dream of eternal partnership, and the carefully balanced elements of her life begin to spin out of control, she must choose between maintaining the trappings of normalcy and launching herself headlong toward the love she’s always dreamed of. Both subversive and unexpectedly heartwarming, Sky Daddy hijacks the classic love story, exploring desire, fate, and the longing to be accepted for who we truly are.

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Published Apr 8, 2025

384 pages

Average rating: 6.51

111 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

amjones6
10/10 stars
Wonderful book! Kate Folk did a great job humanizing the main character instead of making fun of her. I appreciated the whole premise and thought the writing was fun and easy to ready.
Kokalcola
9/10 stars
Kate Folk is fucking funny. She’s able to write even the most misfit and depraved of characters in a way that kept me hoping for good for the protagonist throughout the book. Made me laugh, made me cry, a sobering reminder that there are many more of us than less of us who are one hard moment away from self destruction, while still being deserving of redemption.
Casey O
6/10 stars
this has permanently altered how i view flying.for good or for ill, who can say?
ClinicallyBookish
10/10 stars
"I could not be a man's girlfriend if I hoped to be a plane's wife." Linda struggles between indulging her... a-hem... appetite for... a-hem... unusual (air quotes) in-flight entertainment (air quotes) and just being a normal person and interacting with normal people and being... normal. What's weird? What's normal? What are boundaries? What's friendship? This book is full of snark, relatability, cringe and food for thought. Thanks to my friend Donna for the wacky/weird recommendation! You know my unhinged tastes so well.

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