The Good Deed - by Helen Benedict (Paperback)

About the Book

In The Good Deed, Helen Benedict offers a stark, powerful portrait of women on opposite sides of a refugee camp in Greece: the refugees trapped inside, and the troubled American tourist whose good intentions morph into a dangerous delusion, resulting in a poignant, layered novel on displacement and belonging, love and betrayal, and the jagged space between altruism and egoism.

Book Synopsis

Set in 2018 against the backdrop of an overcrowded, fetid refugee camp on the beautiful Greek island of Samos, The Good Deed follows the stories of four women living in the camp and an American tourist who comes to Samos to escape her own dark secret.

When the tourist does a "good deed," she triggers a crisis that brings her and the refugee women into a conflict that escalates dramatically as each character struggles for what she needs.

Review Quotes

Featured in the Shelf Unbound list of 2024 Indie Summer Reads

"Written with immense sensitivity and depth of knowledge, The Good Deed takes us to the heart of what it means to be a refugee, the devastation and loss, but also the strength and resilience. It brought tears to my eyes and hope to my heart."--Christy Lefteri, author of Songbirds and The Beekeeper of Aleppo

"The novel comes to an emotional conclusion, reminding us that hope is still to be found in the most desolate of places and prompting the reader to consider why and how we ask a person to prove their own humanity. An insightful reminder of our responsibilities to one another, more important now than ever."--Kirkus Reviews

"Benedict's haunting, timely novel traces the intense journeys of female refugees as their paths collide with a vacationing tourist... (This) true-to-life novel resonates, particularly in the characters' moments of fortitude in the face of brutal experiences of heartbreak and loss."--Booklist

"In The Good Deed, Helen Benedict offers a poignant, layered novel on displacement and belonging, love and betrayal, and the jagged space between altruism and egoism."--Dalia Sofer, author of The Septembers of Shiraz and Man of My Time

"Benedict revisits the terrain of her nonfiction title Map of Hope and Sorrow for a complex and heartbreaking story of Syrians living at a refugee camp on the Greek island of Samos...Each of the characters' perspectives is nuanced and carefully wrought. Benedict has crafted an involving tale of a humanitarian crisis."--Publishers Weekly

"Ultimately, The Good Deed is neither cynical nor depressing but
hopeful. It's about the triumph of the human spirit, about ordinary
people who survive not because they're superheroes but because they
seize upon moments of good fortune, help each other, and refuse to give
up."--Washington Independent Review of Books

"Benedict's harrowing narrative highlights the ways in which hope and home
are brutally wrenched from these refugees; the only profiteers are the
people smugglers, who netted £183m out of misery last year alone." --Elizabeth Smith, Necessary Fiction