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Good Guys

A Novel

Author Sharon Bala
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McClelland & Stewart
On sale Jan 20, 2026 | 9780771099090
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From the bestselling author of The Boat People comes a page-turning moral thriller about money, the dark side of philanthropy, and what happens when you try to change the world for all the wrong reasons.

"The easiest choices are the ones you make for other people."

Claire Talbot is the publicist at Children of the World, an NGO that funds international aid projects. Morally burnt out after decades working in reputation management, Claire is relieved to finally use her PR skills for good. Too bad the charity is on the verge of bankruptcy. In a last-ditch effort to keep them afloat, Claire arranges for an A-list actress to volunteer at one of their overseas orphanages. When the actress decides to adopt a baby and promises a massive donation, it seems as if Claire has single-handedly saved the day. But after a journalist digs into their operations and reveals a shocking crime, Claire and her colleagues must reckon with their complicity and all the ways their work abroad has harmed the very people they set out to save.

Moving between their headquarters in Toronto and their compound in Central America, the novel charts the charity’s rise and fall. By turns scathing and compassionate, the book offers a compelling behind-the-scenes look at the complex and morally ambiguous world of international aid, and ultimately asks the question: is it possible to do good in a broken system?
© Nadra Ginting
Sharon Bala’s bestselling debut novel, The Boat People, won the 2020 Newfoundland & Labrador Book Award and the 2019 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. It was a finalist for Canada Reads 2018, the 2018 Amazon Canada First Novel Award, the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, and was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award and the Aspen Words Literary Prize. The Boat People is on sale worldwide with translations in French, German, Arabic, and Turkish. The unpublished manuscript won the Percy Janes First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the NLCU Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers.
 
In 2017 Sharon won the Writers’ Trust/ McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize for her short story “Butter Tea at Starbucks” and had a second story on the long-list. Her short fiction has also won three Newfoundland and Labrador Arts & Letters Awards and been published in: The Journey Prize 29, Hazlitt, Grain, PRISM international, The Dalhousie Review, The New Quarterly, Maisonneuve, The Newfoundland Quarterly Online, Room, and Riddle Fence.
 
Sharon was given the 2017 CBC Emerging Artist Award. She is a member of The Port Authority, a St. John’s writing group. In 2015, they published a short story collection called Racket with Breakwater Books. Visit her online at: sharonbala.com. View titles by Sharon Bala

About

From the bestselling author of The Boat People comes a page-turning moral thriller about money, the dark side of philanthropy, and what happens when you try to change the world for all the wrong reasons.

"The easiest choices are the ones you make for other people."

Claire Talbot is the publicist at Children of the World, an NGO that funds international aid projects. Morally burnt out after decades working in reputation management, Claire is relieved to finally use her PR skills for good. Too bad the charity is on the verge of bankruptcy. In a last-ditch effort to keep them afloat, Claire arranges for an A-list actress to volunteer at one of their overseas orphanages. When the actress decides to adopt a baby and promises a massive donation, it seems as if Claire has single-handedly saved the day. But after a journalist digs into their operations and reveals a shocking crime, Claire and her colleagues must reckon with their complicity and all the ways their work abroad has harmed the very people they set out to save.

Moving between their headquarters in Toronto and their compound in Central America, the novel charts the charity’s rise and fall. By turns scathing and compassionate, the book offers a compelling behind-the-scenes look at the complex and morally ambiguous world of international aid, and ultimately asks the question: is it possible to do good in a broken system?

Author

© Nadra Ginting
Sharon Bala’s bestselling debut novel, The Boat People, won the 2020 Newfoundland & Labrador Book Award and the 2019 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. It was a finalist for Canada Reads 2018, the 2018 Amazon Canada First Novel Award, the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, and was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award and the Aspen Words Literary Prize. The Boat People is on sale worldwide with translations in French, German, Arabic, and Turkish. The unpublished manuscript won the Percy Janes First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the NLCU Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers.
 
In 2017 Sharon won the Writers’ Trust/ McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize for her short story “Butter Tea at Starbucks” and had a second story on the long-list. Her short fiction has also won three Newfoundland and Labrador Arts & Letters Awards and been published in: The Journey Prize 29, Hazlitt, Grain, PRISM international, The Dalhousie Review, The New Quarterly, Maisonneuve, The Newfoundland Quarterly Online, Room, and Riddle Fence.
 
Sharon was given the 2017 CBC Emerging Artist Award. She is a member of The Port Authority, a St. John’s writing group. In 2015, they published a short story collection called Racket with Breakwater Books. Visit her online at: sharonbala.com. View titles by Sharon Bala

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