Good Intentions (Paperback)

What does it mean to live a good life—if it isn’t entirely your own?

In 1980s Kansas City, Tom Rudnik is determined to do everything right: build a successful legal career, marry the woman he loves, and create the kind of family his upbringing demands. But beneath that carefully constructed life lies a hidden truth.

As Tom’s ambitions carry him to Washington, D.C., he’s forced on a journey that fractures everything he’s built. A marriage shaped by both love and denial starts to unravel, and the ensuing events put his career, his reputation, and his relationship with his young son at risk.

Set against a shifting cultural landscape, Good Intentions is a deeply human story of identity, desire, and the cost of living between two selves—where the path to honesty may mean losing everything, or finally becoming whole.

“Frederick Groya’s Good Intentions is a really well-executed LGBTQ+ novel, and Tom is a wonderful protagonist, especially in the seriousness he brings to fatherhood. […] It’s such a heartfelt, beautiful read, and readers who enjoy exceptional literary fiction will adore this book.” – Jamie Michele for Readers’ Favorite, 5 stars

“Frederick Groya’s Good Intentions is an intimate, historically grounded novel about the distance between the life a person is taught to want and the life that ultimately proves authentic. […] Good Intentions is a thoughtful family and identity novel about becoming honest enough to live as one person, and responsible enough to accept the full history of how that person came to be.” – Literary Titan, 4 stars