A Good Animal

by Sara Maurer

Genres: Small Town & Rural

Synopsis

A heart-wrenching coming-of-age debut novel by a stunning new voice in fiction, for readers of Barbara Kingsolver and Ann Patchett.

In the farm fields surrounding Sault Ste. Marie, a border town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, time seems to stand still. Summer, the sun scalds the local boys’ necks as they bale hay for cash. Winter, the girls bundle up against the cold and jostle through the high school halls like trailered sheep.

Most kids dream of leaving, but Everett Lindt plans to stay on his family's sheep farm, develop his own herd, and eventually rebuild the crumbling homestead that looks over the land he loves. When he meets Mary, a Coast Guard brat determined to set out on her own, he soon feels he can’t live without her. After she discovers she's pregnant, he's convinced she'll stay by his side forever. Mary, however, is desperate to find a way out. With limited access to reproductive care, Everett and Mary discover a solution with potentially disastrous consequences.

Intimate and haunting, Sara Maurer's A Good Animal is a breathtaking story of the complexities of love, the beauty and brutality of rural life, and how one decision can echo through generations and shape who we become.

Release date: February 24, 2026

Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

Print pages: 288