Good Intentions

by Adriana Hunter (Translator), Agnès Desarthe (Author), Adriana Hunter (Translator), Agnès Desarthe (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $3.45

  With her husband Julien away on business much of the time, and now a second child on the way, Sonia finds herself drawn into the darker corners of life in her block. She finds herself sucked speedily into the maelstrom of two neighbours' sordid lethargy and ordinary cruelty.

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $4.98

  a sly, wry novel about how hard it is to do good Sonia is finally settling down. With her husband Julian, she buys a flat in an apartment block in an up-and-coming quarter of the city. And she is pregnant with her first child. Family life begins and it feels good. Yet her new apartment, it is soon obvious, is not the haven she had hoped. And Sonia's beliefs in a decent, peaceful world, her disgust over racism, over poverty, soon make life very difficult for her as she allows herself to be drawn into a vicious and deeply unpleasant war between the odious apartment caretakers and a sad, lost widower who reaches out to her for help. When the threats and bullying slide beyond her control, Sonia is forced to realise that the cruelty of the world cannot simply be covered up with good intentions. With sly wit and a misleadingly light touch, Agnes Desarthe has created an unsettling picture of the world through an apartment building and shown how, with the best will in the world, it can sometimes be the hardest thing of all to tell the good guys from the bad guys.