diff --git a/hgeos.cabal b/hgeos.cabal
--- a/hgeos.cabal
+++ b/hgeos.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:                 hgeos
-version:              0.1.4.0
+version:              0.1.5.0
 synopsis:             Simple Haskell bindings to GEOS C API
 description:
   Simple Haskell bindings to the <https://trac.osgeo.org/geos/ GEOS>
diff --git a/src/lib/Data/Geolocation/GEOS.hs b/src/lib/Data/Geolocation/GEOS.hs
--- a/src/lib/Data/Geolocation/GEOS.hs
+++ b/src/lib/Data/Geolocation/GEOS.hs
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
     , envelope
     , geomTypeId
     , getCoordSeq
+    , getErrorMessage
     , getExteriorRing
     , getGeometry
     , getNumGeometries
@@ -147,6 +148,10 @@
     return $ if isNullPtr h
                 then Nothing
                 else Just $ CoordinateSequence sr h
+
+-- |Returns message in case of error
+getErrorMessage :: IO String
+getErrorMessage = c_getErrorMessage >>= peekCString
 
 -- |Returns a 'Geometry' instance representing the exterior ring of the
 -- supplied 'Geometry'
diff --git a/src/lib/Data/Geolocation/GEOS/Imports.hs b/src/lib/Data/Geolocation/GEOS/Imports.hs
--- a/src/lib/Data/Geolocation/GEOS/Imports.hs
+++ b/src/lib/Data/Geolocation/GEOS/Imports.hs
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
     , c_GEOSisEmpty_r
     , c_GEOSversion
     , c_finishGEOS_r
+    , c_getErrorMessage
     , c_initializeGEOSWithHandlers
     ) where
 
diff --git a/src/lib/Data/Geolocation/GEOS/Trans.hs b/src/lib/Data/Geolocation/GEOS/Trans.hs
--- a/src/lib/Data/Geolocation/GEOS/Trans.hs
+++ b/src/lib/Data/Geolocation/GEOS/Trans.hs
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
     , mkWriterM
     , readGeometryM
     , runGEOS
+    , runGEOSEither
     , writeGeometryM
     ) where
 
@@ -124,6 +125,28 @@
 -- @
 runGEOS :: (Context -> MaybeT IO a) -> IO (Maybe a)
 runGEOS = withGEOS . (runMaybeT .)
+
+-- |Creates a <https://trac.osgeo.org/geos/ GEOS> context, passes it to a block
+-- and releases the context and all associated objects such as readers, writers
+-- and geometries at the end inside a @MaybeT IO@ monad returning a message in
+-- case of error:
+--
+-- @
+--    result <- runGEOSEither $ \ctx -> do
+--
+--        -- Use context
+--
+--        return ()
+--    case result of
+--          Left m -> putStrLn $ "Failed: " ++ m
+--          Right r -> putStrLn $ "Succeeded: " ++ show r
+-- @
+runGEOSEither :: (Context -> MaybeT IO a) -> IO (Either String a)
+runGEOSEither action = do
+    result <- runGEOS action
+    case result of
+         Nothing -> Left <$> getErrorMessage
+         Just r -> return $ Right r
 
 -- | @MaybeT@-wrapped version of 'area'
 writeGeometryM :: Writer -> Geometry -> MaybeT IO String