These are the fiction titles that Monitor reviewers like best this month:\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Greatest Possible Good,\u00a0by Ben Brooks<\/p>\n
Ben Brooks explores how far a person should be willing to go to help others in this engaging morality tale. When the patriarch of a privileged English family donates the bulk of the clan\u2019s fortune to charity, it does not sit well with his wife and teenage children \u2013 at least, not initially. \u2013 Heller McAlpin\u00a0\u00a0Read our\u00a0full review<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Why We Wrote This<\/p>\n Our reviewers\u2019 picks this month include novels about an actor-turned-CIA spy, and a museum worker who falls through a portal into a Matisse painting. The nonfiction topics involve Amelia Earhart\u2019s marriage, brazen thefts of Chinese art, and studying seals.<\/p>\n The Winds From Further West,\u00a0by Alexander McCall Smith<\/p>\n Alexander McCall Smith\u2019s uplifting novel has been referred to as \u201ca call to arms for a better society.\u201d This philosophical exploration of people, academia, and \u201ccancel culture\u201d follows a University of Edinburgh researcher. After disheartening setbacks, he retreats to the isolated, beautiful Isle of Mull, opening his heart to new beginnings.\u00a0\u2013 Stefanie Milligan<\/p>\n Pariah,\u00a0by Dan Fesperman<\/p>\n Disgraced American actor Hal reluctantly agrees to help the CIA spy on an Eastern European autocrat. The twist: Mr. Despot loves Hal\u2019s work and has invited him to perform at his presidential palace. What follows is a balancing act \u2013 for Hal, beneath the watch of competing agencies and interests, as well as for author Dan Fesperman, as he unspools a tale of a flawed man\u2019s transformation.\u00a0\u2013 Erin Douglass<\/p>\n The Art of Vanishing,\u00a0by Morgan Pager<\/p>\n This whimsical tale set in Philadelphia finds museum employee Claire entering a portal into a 1917 Henri Matisse painting. There, she falls deeply in love with the artist\u2019s son, Jean. The novel offers a bountiful palette of laughter, wisdom, and affection. \u2013 Stefanie Milligan<\/p>\n Slanting Towards the Sea,\u00a0by Lidija Hilje<\/p>\n Ivona \u2013 a late-30s, would-be biologist in a dead-end job \u2013 lives on the Croatian coast with her father ever since her divorce. She grapples with lingering feelings for her ex, while navigating the future of her family\u2019s land, the attentions of a new suitor, and a heap of regrets. Amid big feelings come wise questions about duty, potential, and connection. \u2013 Erin Douglass<\/p>\n These are the nonfiction titles our reviewers like best this month:<\/p>\n The Place of Tides,\u00a0by James Rebanks<\/p>\n