Bad Ideas - Paperback

by Missy Marston (Author)

Wildly funny and wonderfully moving, Bad Ideas is about just that -- a string of bad ideas -- and the absurdity of love Trudy works nights in a linen factory, avoiding romance and sharing the care of her four-year-old niece with Trudy's mother, Claire. Claire still pines for Trudy's father, a St. Lawrence Seaway construction worker who left her twenty years ago. Claire believes in true love. Trudy does not. She's keeping herself to herself. But when Jules Tremblay, aspiring daredevil, walks into the Jubilee restaurant, Trudy's a goner. Loosely inspired by Ken "the Crazy Canuck" Carter's attempt to jump the St. Lawrence River in a rocket car, and set in a 1970s hollowed-out town in eastern Ontario, Bad Ideas paints an indelible portrait of people on the forgotten fringes of life. Witty and wise, this is a novel that will stay with you a long time.

Back Jacket

An astonishing, funny, and beautiful book, full of terrible, lovable, broken people doing their best to find happiness wherever they can. Always illuminating and never sentimental, Bad Ideas is an honest look at what it means to dream big in a small town. -- Jennifer McCartney, New York Times bestselling author "A story with hard edges, humour, and so much tenderness, Missy Marston affirms her place as one of Canada's funniest and original writers." -- Kerry Clare, author of Mitzi Bytes "These strong, funny, and intense characters have unique and deep-seated ideas about love and family and have dreams that are big enough. Marston writes with love and verve." -- Dina Del Bucchia, author of Don't Tell Me What to Do Trudy works nights in a linen factory, avoiding romance and sharing the care of her four-year-old niece with Trudy's mother, Claire. Claire still pines for Trudy's father, a St. Lawrence Seaway construction worker who left her twenty years ago. Claire believes in true love. Trudy absolutely does not -- that is, until Jules Tremblay, aspiring daredevil, leaps into Trudy's life. Loosely inspired by Ken "the Mad Canadian" Carter's attempt to jump the St. Lawrence River in a rocket car and set in a 1970s hollowed-out town in eastern Ontario, Bad Ideas paints an indelible portrait of people on the forgotten fringes of life.

Author Biography

Missy Marston's first novel, The Love Monster, was the winner of the 2013 Ottawa Book Award, a finalist for the CBC Bookie Awards and the Scotiabank Giller Prize Readers' Choice. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario.