diff --git a/src/core/database.cpp b/src/core/database.cpp
index 42603ad..a80cf0d 100644
--- a/src/core/database.cpp
+++ b/src/core/database.cpp
@@ -9,16 +9,20 @@ Database::Database(const std::string& dbname) : db_(nullptr)
     if (errCode) {
         throw std::runtime_error("Could not open database file.");
     }
-    exec("PRAGMA foreign_key = 1");
+    sqlite3_db_config(db_, SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_FKEY);
 }
 
 Database::~Database() { sqlite3_close(db_); }
 
 void Database::exec(const std::string& sql)
 {
-    const int errCode = sqlite3_exec(db_, sql.c_str(), nullptr, nullptr, nullptr);
+    char* errMsg;
+    const int errCode = sqlite3_exec(db_, sql.c_str(), nullptr, nullptr, &errMsg);
     if (errCode) {
-        throw std::runtime_error("Error in SQL execution.");
+        std::string errMsgString(errMsg); // Make a C++ string of the errMsg, so that we can call
+                                          // sqlite3_free() before throwing the exception
+        sqlite3_free(errMsg);
+        throw std::runtime_error("Error in SQL execution: " + errMsgString);
     }
 }