A Good House begins in 1949 in Stonebrook， Ontario， home to the Chambers family. The postwar boom and hope for the future colors every facet of life: possibilities seem limitless for Bill， his wife， Sylvia， and their three children. In the fifty years that follow， the possibilities narrow into lives， etched by character， fate， and circumstance. Sylvia s untimely death marks her family indelibly but in ways only time will reveal. Paul s perfect marriage yields an imperfect child. Daphne unabashedly follows an unconventional path， while Patrick discovers that his happiness requires a series of compromises. Bill confronts the onset of old age less gracefully than anticipated， and throughout， his second wife， Margaret， remains， surprisingly， the family anchor. With her remarkable ability to probe the hidden， often disturbing landscapes of love and to illuminate the complexities of human experience， Bonnie Burnard brings to her deceptively simple narrative a clarity that is both moving and profound.