SAULT STE MARIE – On Feb. 24, St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of Macmillan, will publish “A Good Animal,” the debut novel written by Sault Ste. Marie, resident Sara Maurer.

“A Good Animal” is a coming-of-age literary fiction novel set on a sheep farm in Sault Ste. Marie in 1995. Seventeen-year-old Everett is determined to stay put, rebuild his family’s sheep farm, and carve 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, they make an impulsive choice–one that could change everything.

Already, A Good Animal has received excellent trade reviews from Publishers Weekly (starred review), Booklist, Library Journal, and the Chicago Review of Books. The Book of the Month Club just selected it as an Exclusive February pick!

Maurer, who has lived in the Sault for most of her life, said the novel has been in development for about six years. “I started writing it during the pandemic,” Maurer said. “It’s a bit of a love letter to the Upper Peninsula, my family, and our way of life. I grew up on a farm, showing animals at the fair, and I rarely see that depicted in the books I read. I intentionally set out to create a character who has no desire to leave, who celebrates being rural.”

Place deeply informs Maurer’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 Sault Ste. Marie with her husband, two kids, and mini-Dachshund.

The book is available through the publisher’s website, major online retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Books-a-Million, Powells, and Bookshop.org, as well as independent bookstores like the Sault’s own Island Books & Crafts.

Maurer will celebrate the launch of “A Good Animal” at Lake Superior State University’s Kenneth J. Shouldice Library on Tuesday, February 24, 2026, at 7 p.m. Ellen Airgood, author of Tin Camp Road and South of Superior, will join her in conversation. Books will be available for purchase at the event.