Spotlight for A Good Animal by Sara Maurer

 

A Good Animal by Sara Maurer

Published:  February 24, 2026 by St. Martin’s Press

Genre:  Historical Fiction, Coming of Age

Taken from Goodreads:  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 country outside Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan—a border town where life moves slow and dreams run fast—most kids want out. Not Everett Lindt. He’s set on staying put, rebuilding his family’s sheep farm, and carving a future from the land he loves.

Then he meets Mary, a new girl in town with restless energy and bigger plans. When their relationship reaches a crossroads, Everett sees a life together; Mary, however, is desperate to find a way out. Together, they make an impulsive choice—one that will change everything.

Tense, lyrical, and deeply felt, Sara Maurer's unforgettable debut breathtakingly captures the ache of first love, the beauty and brutality of rural life, and how one decision can echo through generations and shape who we become.

 

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Meet the Author (taken from her website): Sara Maurer's debut novel, A GOOD ANIMAL, a Book of the Month Club Exclusive, is forthcoming from St. Martin's Press in February 2026. Place deeply informs Sara’s writing, particularly how it influences identity and choice. She attended Albion College and Eastern Michigan University and completed the Stanford Continuing Studies certificate in novel writing in 2022. In 2023, she was selected as a Suzanne M. Wilson Artist-in-Residence at the Glen Arbor Arts Center.

She lives in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with her husband, two kids, and mini Dachshund.

 

 "From the first sentence of her debut novel, Sara Maurer transports us to picturesque Sault Ste. Marie, where the rural way of life feels frozen in time. Everett Lindt is certain of his future there, even after he meets a new girl in town with big dreams. With pitch perfect prose, Maurer captures the intensity of Everett’s first love, and the haunting mistakes he makes despite his good intentions." 

—Tracey Lange, New York Times bestselling author of We Are the Brennans

"A nostalgic and poignant coming-of-age novel that takes place in rural Michigan, A Good Animal will hook you the moment you read the haunting prologue. Maurer juxtaposes a teen's yearning to grow up against not being fully ready for adult responsibilities—along with the contrast of beauty and joy against the sometimes harsh realities of life and death on a farm—and bottles it up into a story of all the ways love shapes us that you won’t want to put down.” 

—Kristin Koval, author of Penitence