{"product_id":"the-greatest-possible-good","title":"The Greatest Possible Good","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"A sharp-witted tragicomedy about money, morality, and a family teetering on the brink. A splendidly funny novel.\" --\u003cb\u003eJenny Jackson, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003ePineapple Street\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eFor readers of Paul Murray's \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e and Jenny Jackson's \u003ci\u003ePineapple Street\u003c\/i\u003e, an irresistibly funny and incisive novel about a wealthy family that is confident in its good intentions--until the discovery that their patriarch has secretly given all their money to charity ruins their lives.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eMeet the Candlewicks\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSeventeen-year-old\u003cb\u003e Evangeline\u003c\/b\u003e (a.k.a Dubbin), wants to change the world, has a penchant for throwing fake blood during protests, and despairs at the smug complacency of the rest of her family. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eEmil \u003c\/b\u003eis fifteen, and a painfully shy math prodigy who has just begun dabbling in narcotics. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTheir mother, \u003cb\u003eYara\u003c\/b\u003e, arrives at airports four hours early and fears that AI and climate change will leave her children unemployed and unable to go outside for longer than ten minutes. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAnd, \u003cb\u003eArthur\u003c\/b\u003e, the father, a hapless and always neutral man, who can't decide if he is a good person or a doormat--forgiving and understanding or weak and terrified. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTheir comfortable lives are thrown into disarray when Arthur walks out into the woods one night for a stroll in his calfskin slippers only to fall down an abandoned mineshaft. Disoriented and unable to move, he remains there for three days with only a bottle of mid-range Bordeaux, his son's confiscated stash of LSD, and his daughter's book on the concept of Effective Altruism for company. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen he is rescued, he is a man transformed. Determined to give away all of his wealth and devote the rest of his life to the (statistically proven) most worthy causes, his metamorphosis shocks his family and triggers a chain of events that will have far-reaching and unforeseen consequences for them all. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEqual parts hilarious and achingly human, \u003ci\u003eThe Greatest Possible Good\u003c\/i\u003e spans ten years in the lives of the Candlewicks, asking universal questions about what it means to live a good life and if there is a \"right\" way to be a good person, while introducing the world to one of the most memorable and dysfunctional families in contemporary literature.","brand":"Avid Reader Press \/ Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51942005113063,"sku":"9781668089460","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/files\/imageloader_dcb49477-4bdb-4d20-a4a6-e05a23c67f99.jpg?v=1775243417","url":"https:\/\/arvidabookco.com\/products\/the-greatest-possible-good","provider":"Arvida Book Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}