A father broke down in tears after his thriller book became a bestseller more than ten years after its release, thanks to his daughter’s viral TikTok video.

It was in 2012 when author Lloyd Devereux Richards’ book, Stone Maidens, was published by Thomas & Mercer – an Amazon imprint that publishes thrillers, true crimes, and mysteries.

The story was inspired by crime events that happened in the mid-1970s while Richards attended law school at Indiana University.

However, the road to success was difficult for the father-of-three until recently when his daughter, Marguerite Richards, decided to use social media to get her father’s book the attention it deserved.

In the 16-second TikTok video shared by Marguerite, she wrote that her dad spent 14 years writing a book, adding he ‘worked full time and his kids came first.’

The loving daughter added: “I’d love for him to get some sales. He doesn’t even know what TikTok is.”

Viewers were so moved to hear Richards’ efforts and were also a little bit heartbroken that it did not get go well in sales.

Only one week after the video was posted, it has gained more than 43 million views and 9.7 million likes.

In just a few days, Stone Maidens had become the top-selling book on Amazon.

Marguerite shared a follow-up video showing her dad becoming emotional. “Oh my gosh,” he said in the video, to which his daughter replied: “I love you, dad!”

The two hugged each other, and Richards sweetly told her: “Thank you.”

Marguerite said that she created a TikTok account to help her dad promote his novel.

“It was such a great book, and I knew how important it was to him,” she expressed. “I thought maybe it’s just because nobody knows about the book.”

@stonemaidens It’s a beautifully written thriller on Amazon 🥹❤️ #stonemaidens #booktok #authorsoftiktok #thrillerbooks #books ♬ original sound – e

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