A Good House (39 page)

Yes.

“In
A Good House,
Bonnie Burnard imbues the apparently ordinary lives of her characters with a dignity that renders them unforgettable. She has a sense of the moment that gives value and meaning to a life.”

—Nico Ricci, Alberto Manguel and Judy Mappin,
1999 Giller Prize jury panel

“…as compelling to the outsider…as one’s own family history would be…Burnard manages, with what seems almost magical skill, to bring 11 major characters, as well as the characters of their homes and their shared and disparate worlds, fully to life…Anyone who loves history, legends, architecture, comedies, psychological studies and rambling, delicious novels will love
A Good House
and will never again look at any family in quite the same way.”

—
The Globe and Mail

“It’s the small details, bits of ordinary life, that make this story real. These are the kinds of characters we can’t help growing attached to; we wish them well and worry for them—even after we’ve set Burnard’s book aside…Burnard is such an accomplished storyteller that she manages to blur the line between fact and fiction.”

—
The Gazette
(Montreal)

“It is strange and wonderful to finish
A Good House
and look back at the arc it has followed—the children who began the novel are now old, or gone, their children have grown up, and the reader has been there as they lived their lives, witness to all the turns and tragedies they have encountered together and severally…Bonnie Burnard made her mark on the landscape of Canadian fiction with her first two books. Now, with the publication of
A Good House,
that mark is irrefutably indelible.”

—
The Edmonton Journal

“…a daring feat, and one that will move the reader to recognition and, at times, to tears. Our literature needs this kind of real wealth, our own lives given back to us in the form of enduring language.”

—Carol Shields,
The Ottawa Citizen

“…Burnard is a master of the thumbnail sketch, capable of conjuring all a character’s robust vitality in a few scant lines…”

—
The National Post

“A Good House
is the best proof in recent memory that realist fiction can contain the imaginative charge and impact of the wildest fantasy or science fiction—skillfully handled, the everyday world can amount to legend.”

—
Ottawa Xpress

“…a gripping story from the odds and ends of unremarkable lives…”

—
The Hamilton Spectator

“…[A Good House
is] a celebration of the Canadian family and small-town life…characterization and setting come vividly alive.”

—
Winnipeg Free Press

“…In A Good House,
Burnard exercises her considerable talent and skill as she provides readers with a story rich in detail, texturing and characterization.”

—
The Sunday Daily News
(Halifax)

“A Good House
is written with confidence, steady wisdom, its large cast of characters beautifully assembled…rich layers of everyday life have been peeled back to reveal the often startling depths of ordinary human experience. The writer’s fine eye for detail and her unerring sense of her characters’ strengths and inadequacies help lend the novel its radiance and grace.”

—
The London Free Press

A Good House

Copyright © 1999 by Bonnie Burnard.

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EPub Edition © DECEMBER 2009 ISBN: 978-1-554-68851-7

A Phyllis Bruce Book, published by Harper Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

First published in hardcover by Harper
Flamingo
Canada
and Phyllis Bruce Books: 1999

First Harper Perennial paperback edition: 2000

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