THE INVENTION OF THE DAUGHTER - The Meaning and Making of Daughterhood

  • From Iphigenia and Mary Tudor to Britney Spears: A compelling feminist cultural history of what it truly means to be a daughter.
  • A book that will make every woman think: How does this role affect me?
  • English sample translation available soon.

Being a daughter is a role that does not disappear with adulthood. It is the fundamental blueprint that defines what it means to be a woman. This book explores how patriarchal orders inscribe themselves into families, economic dependencies, and our very definition of a "proper life." It examines love and expectation, intimacy and guilt, and the things that remain unsaid.

Gunda Windmüller traces the archetypes of the sacrificed, the rebellious, the caregiving, the overlooked, and the unwanted daughter. She tells the stories of real and fictional daughters across mythology, history, and the present day - from Iphigenia to Britney Spears, from Mary Tudor to the heiresses of modern public life. In doing so, she reveals how deeply images of the daughter are shaped by patriarchal structures and why the mother often appears as a void in many daughter-stories. The result is a profound portrait that captures an issue moving countless women today.

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  • Publisher: Rowohlt Hardcover
  • Release: 13.11.2026
  • ISBN: 978-3-498-00969-4
  • 272 Pages
  • Author: Gunda Windmüller

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Buchcover von THE INVENTION OF THE DAUGHTER - The Meaning and Making of Daughterhood: Von Rebellinnen, Erbinnen und Ungewollten
Gunda WindmüllerTHE INVENTION OF THE DAUGHTER - The Meaning and Making of Daughterhood
Portrait von Gunda Windmüller
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Gunda Windmüller

Gunda Windmüller, born in 1980, is a PhD in literary studies and has worked as a journalist for publications including Zeit Online and Welt kompakt . She co-hosted and produced the podcast "Fix&Vierzig" with Katja Berlin. Her first non-fiction book, Weiblich, ledig, glücklich – sucht nicht , was published in 2019 by Rowohlt. She completed her training as a yoga teacher and has been teaching yoga in Berlin since 2021.