I’m always looking for a great literary fiction release and The Greatest Possible Good did not disappoint. This novel is definitely a strong contender for my “Best Book of 2025.” Highly recommend if you loved Long Island Compromise (2024) and Wellness (2023).

The premise intrigued me—big moral questions, family tension, and a satirical take on effective altruism—but the tone just didn’t work for me. The writing felt overly stylized in a way that distracted from the characters and emotional core. While I can see how others might enjoy the sharp wit and absurdity, I found it hard to connect and ultimately wasn’t enjoying the experience of reading. With so many other books on my TBR, I decided to set this one aside.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read an early copy.

Ben Brooks' *The Greatest Possible Good* is a brilliantly executed tragicomedy that begins with what sounds like an absurd premise: wealthy businessman Arthur Candlewick falls down a mineshaft and emerges three days later with a radical new perspective on life and money. Armed with only his son's drug stash, a book on effective altruism, and a bottle of medium-priced Bordeaux during his underground ordeal, Arthur decides to sell his timber business and give away his millions to charity. What follows is a decade-long exploration of how this decision fractures and ultimately transforms the seemingly perfect Candlewick family. Brooks masterfully balances razor-sharp wit with genuine emotional depth, creating a narrative that can make you laugh out loud one moment and reach for tissues the next.

The strength of this novel lies in Brooks' nuanced portrayal of each family member's response to Arthur's moral awakening. Wife Yara desperately seeks medical explanations for her husband's personality change, convinced something must be neurologically wrong. Daughter Evangeline, who genuinely wants to save the world, finds herself conflicted when her father's philanthropy threatens her own privileged lifestyle. Meanwhile, mathematically gifted but emotionally distant son Emil retreats further into himself as the family dynamics shift. Brooks doesn't present Arthur as a saint or his family as villains; instead, he crafts deeply human characters whose flaws and contradictions make them surprisingly relatable despite their wealth.

What makes *The Greatest Possible Good* particularly compelling is its thoughtful examination of privilege, wealth, and moral responsibility in our current economic climate. Brooks raises uncomfortable questions about what it means to be a good person when you have more than enough, and whether genuine altruism is possible when it disrupts the lives of those you love most. The novel's tragicomic tone prevents it from becoming preachy, instead using humor to illuminate the absurdities and complexities of modern wealth while never losing sight of the genuine human cost of Arthur's moral transformation.

This is ultimately a story about family dysfunction disguised as social commentary, or perhaps the reverse—either way, Brooks has created something both entertaining and profound. The Candlewicks may be extraordinarily wealthy, but their struggles with communication, love, and finding meaning are universally recognizable. *The Greatest Possible Good* succeeds as both a sharp satire of privilege and a moving portrait of a family learning to navigate an entirely new version of themselves.

This book is perfect for fans of Kevin Wilson who enjoy quirky characters, dry senses of humor, and mostly unemotional family dramas. A father of two experiences a change of priorities and his family isn't sure how to deal with his changes.

While I appreciated the story’s setup and character development, I felt detached from the storyline about halfway through and lost interest in the conclusion. I really liked the children in the story which kept me reading.

I thought this was a satirical take on a wealthy American family that does "charity" and good deeds as public facing features to propel them forward but are hollow when worse comes to shove. The dynamics of the family were funny and messed up but brought up social, political, economic, class issues to light and made you think of them in interesting ways.

Delighted to include this title in the July edition of Novel Encounters, my column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for the Books section of Zoomer, Canada’s national lifestyle and culture magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

I featured The Greatest Possible Good in my July 2025 new releases video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5JWYTfUVq4, and though I have not read it yet, I am so excited to and expect 5 stars! I will update here when I post a follow up review or vlog.

A book hasn't depressed me like this one did in a long time... it was just so sad. It was not just a dysfunctional family but four very messed up people adrift and not depending on or confiding in one another. And then the father decides to give away his money and everyone treats him like a leper. Hope you have better luck!


The Greatest Possible Good comes out next week on July 15, 2025 and you can purchase HERE.

Around a lacquered oak dining table made from looted church pews, below a bulkhead lamp that had once belonged to a Polish fishing trawler, the four members of the Candlewick family were picking distractedly at clay plates of salad. The dish was a delicately improvised medley of charred root vegetables and crumbled feta, doused in manuka honey dressing and crawling with ant-black sesame seeds.


One side of the six-hundred-year-old room had been punched out and replaced with a triple-glazed wall of tinted glass, revealing a pale moon hung in the dimming pink sky. It was late April and the magnolia in the centre of the lawn waved its clenched buds like winning tickets. Beyond the back fence, lights flickered on in the leaded windows of neighbouring cottages.

Most people do not live their lives according to their own values. They say they do, they say they support certain things or care about them, but they never actually adjust their behavior. It's not easy to retain your convictions. To honor your beliefs. It takes courage, and sometimes radical and uncomfortable change. For Arthur Candlewick, it took a traumatic brain injury. A hard reset. And it changed everything.

This novel is an interesting study of relationships, moral philosophy, materialism vs. charity, familial responsibility, and this crazy thing we call life in general.

Each of the characters is complex and in some ways, contradictory, even to themselves. In other ways, they were steady and immovable, usually to their own detriment.

Arthur's change in personality after his accident broke their family apart. His wife Yara could not reconcile his new self with the man she married and for their two children, teenagers at the time, the fracture was a formative experience.

What is there to say about a novel like this one, except to read it for yourself? It isn't necessarily an easy read, though it's not heavy or difficult quite either. The thing it will demand of you is your full attention. It will make you think, and to face your own thinking. Emil (the son) is one of the most thoughtful and considered characters I may have ever read. Sometimes things are black and white, but both the black and the white have larger implications, and it is always useful to explore them.

You will take out of this book what you put into it, and I absolutely love that.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This satirical story follows the Candlewick family whose lives are turned upside down when the father, Arthur, goes missing and falls into an abandoned mineshaft. This incident alters his personality and spurs him to donate their entire wealth to charities - creating chaos and dysfunction within the family.

The satire was fun, but this book wasn’t for me and was a bit too slow for my liking.

Many sources describe this as funny, but I confess I missed the humor in this novel. Yes, there was an occasional subtle wit woven into the prose, but for the most part this story describes an incredibly dysfunctional collection of characters who are plodding through life.

The Candlewicks appear successful by conventional standards – a nuclear family of four, a beautiful home, two successful careers, significant wealth, and two teenagers in prestigious schools. When Arthur, the father, wanders off one night and falls into an abandoned mine shaft he experiences an epiphany with the help of his daughter’s book on social responsibility, his son’s drugs, and the absence of food a water for three days. Upon his rescue, he is determined to share his resources by giving away most of his money to charitable organizations that demonstrate efficacy in their efforts to serve the greater good. The only problem? Arthur undertakes all this unilaterally – to the dismay and outrage of his wife who is now responsible for the welfare of the family. The storyline then follows the decline of the family in a somber and sorrowful manner with little redemption in the end.

The novel raises some interesting questions about the inequality of wealth distribution and its impact on the well-being of the poorest populations throughout the globe. I cannot say I enjoyed this book, but it was thought-provoking on multiple levels. I certainly did not find it hilarious as advertised. At best this novel is a satirical assessment of two extremes – accumulation of wealth for security and comfort contrasted with divestment of wealth to the point of poverty in the name of good.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

For fans of Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting and Jenny Jackson’s Pineapple Street, this dazzling, darkly comic family saga explores wealth, morality, and what happens when a family built on fortune suddenly finds itself without one.

The Candlewicks have it all—old money, prestige, and a lifestyle most can only dream of. Until the unthinkable happens.

Arthur Candlewick, the family patriarch, makes a stunning announcement: he’s giving away the entire family fortune to charity. Overnight, the carefully constructed world of privilege crumbles, leaving his family grasping for stability in a life they were never prepared for.

His daughter Evangeline, the scrappy idealist who once railed against capitalism, watches in shock as the reality of her wishes unfolds in ways she never expected. What does it mean to live by your principles when the safety net is gone?

His son Emil, a brilliant but reclusive math prodigy, pulls further and further from the family, seeking solace—and maybe danger—in the company of less-than-reputable figures.

And Yara, Arthur’s wife, struggles to maintain dignity and grace as their social standing collapses, forcing her to question whether nobility exists without wealth and whether she truly had love with her husband.

As the Candlewicks scramble to redefine themselves without money, the novel asks piercing questions: What does it mean to be good? How do you exist within capitalism without letting it define you? And when everything you know disappears, what’s left?

Rollicking, razor-sharp, and wildly entertaining, The Candlewick Collapse is a novel about privilege, reinvention, and the absurdity of trying to live ethically in a system designed for anything but.

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