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Published Mar 2010
384 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Shortlisted for Canada's prestigious Giller Prize, this "profoundly humane novel" (Vancouver Sun), wrings suspense and humor out of the everyday choices we make, revealing the delicate balance between sacrifice and self-interest, doing good and being good.
Clara Purdy is at a crossroads. At forty-three, she is divorced, living in her late parents' house, and nearing her twentieth year as a claims adjuster at a local insurance firm. Driving to the bank during her lunch hour, she crashes into a sharp left turn, taking the Gage family in the other car with her. When bruises on the mother, Lorraine, prove to be late-stage cancer, Clara decides to do the right thing. She moves Lorraine's three children and their terrible grandmother into her own house—and then has to cope with the consequences of practical goodness: exhaustion, fury, hilarity, and unexpected love.
What, exactly, does it mean to be good? What do we owe each other in this life, and what do we deserve? Good to a Fault is an ultimately joyful book that digs deep, with leavening humor, into questions of morality, class, and social responsibility. Marina Endicott looks at life and death through the compassionate, humane lens of a born novelist: being good, being at fault, and finding some balance in between.
"Endicott's rich writing struggles to find its groove at first, but the balance of prose, plot, and purpose soon evens out into a touching story." - Publishers Weekly
"Good to a Fault is one of those novels you want to tell people about. It's unpretentious and affecting, with characters to remember and themes that linger and resound." - Meg Wolitzer, New York Times bestselling author of The Ten-Year Nap
"There's heartbreak, there's joy, there are parts where you cry - and it's very high quality writing. Well done!" - Margaret Atwood, Giller Prize Jury remarks
This information about Good To a Fault was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Marina Endicott worked as an actor and director before moving to London, England, where she began to write fiction. She now makes her home in Alberta. Her first novel, Open Arms, was shortlisted for the 2001 Amazon/Books in Canada First Novel Award and was adapted for CBC Radio's Between the Covers. Her second novel, Good to a Fault, was nominated for the Giller Prize and won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book Award for Canada and the Caribbean.
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