Good to a Fault

When Clara Purdy takes a dreamy turn in her car and ends up plowing into the lives of the Gage family, her low-impact, nine-to-five life in the suburbs is transformed into heady, noisy chaos.

In a novel reminiscent of the work of Penelope Lively, Anne Tyler, and Alice Munro, acclaimed author Marina Endicott gives us one of the most profound and most memorable reads of the year.

Absorbed in her own failings, Clara Purdy crashes her life into a sharp left turn, taking the young family in the other car along with her. When bruises on the mother, Lorraine, prove to be late-stage cancer, Clara - against all habit and comfort - moves the three children and their terrible grandmother into her own house. We know what is good, but we don't do it. In Good to a Fault, Clara decides to give it a try, and then has to cope with the consequences: exhaustion, fury, hilarity, and unexpected love. But she must question her own motives. Is she acting out of true goodness, or out of guilt? Most shamefully, has she taken over simply because she wants the baby for her own?

'... compassionate, funny, and fiercely intelligent ... a wise and searching novel about the fine line between being useful and being used.' - Elizabeth Hay

'Not even the best detective novels can claim the steady, inexorable suspense that Endicott brings to this story. Emotional stakes have never been higher.' - Lynn Coady

'Fierce and wise - a compelling read.' - Annabel Lyon

About The Author

Canadian author Marina Endicott was born in Golden, British Columbia, and grew up in Nova Scotia and Toronto. She worked as an actor and director before moving to London, where she began to write fiction. Since returning to Canada in 1984, Marina has worked as Dramaturge at the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre and Associate Dramaturge at the Banff Centre's Playwrights Colony. She now teaches creative writing at the University of Alberta. Marina's first novel, Open Arms, was nominated for the Amazon/Books In Canada First Novel award in 2002 and serialized on CBC Radio's Between the Covers. Her stories have been featured in Coming Attractions and shortlisted for both the Journey Prize and the Western Magazine Awards. She's had three plays produced and her long poem, The Policeman's Wife, some letters, was shortlisted for the CBC Literary Awards in 2006.