"Best of All Possible Worlds: A Novel" by Gary Anderson Revisits Voltaire's "Candide" on May 29th.

"Best of All Possible Worlds" is a new novel launching in May by critically acclaimed literary novelist, Gary Anderson, who revisits Voltaire's masterpiece, "Candide."

"Best of All Possible Worlds" is the second literary novel by Anderson whose debut novel, "Animal Magnet," has been voted among the “Best Books of the Decade” and “Best Literary Books of All Time” by Goodreads.


"Best of All Possible Worlds" continues the saga of Jacques the Anabaptist from "Candide" in the satiric spirit of Voltaire. Anderson's novel begins with the return of Voltaire's hero, Candide, to find his beloved tutor, Pangloss, destitute and abandoned in the streets of Leyden, South Holland.

Set in the mid-eighteenth century, the story then follows the lives of two brothers, Jakob and Robrecht Onderdonk, who lead antithetical lives.

At the heart of the novel is Jakob's quest to abandon his life as a sailor at sea for a more edifying life on land. In contrast, Robrecht is determined fully to embrace a sinful life at sea.

“Best of All Possible Worlds" builds upon Voltaire's masterwork with an air of irreverence and a generous serving of the absurd concerning the universal problem of evil in a world created by a perfect God.

You may preview the book trailer for "Best of All Possible Worlds" at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_848n...

Voltaire mercilessly railed against the philosophy advanced by Leibniz and articulated in Alexander Pope’s "Essay on Man" in which Pope writes, “Everything that is is right.”

In "Best of All Possible Worlds" the writing of Anderson rivals the witty satire of Voltaire: there’s genius in both literary novels.

Both authors tackle a theological problem with which mankind has wrestled for centuries: if God is both good and all-powerful, then why does so much catastrophic evil exist in our world?

Theologians would argue that mankind has been divinely endowed with free will, and the vast majority of the human experience of evil emerges from conflicting self-interest among individuals amid imbalances of power.

However, consideration of the many truly epic catastrophes of human history, like the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755, begs the question as to why a perfect God would permit such catastrophe to exist at all. Is this germinal question of faith simply a great mystery of the ages for humanity to seek to answer?

Gary speaks about his new book on YouTube at: http://youtu.be/0AsPJsJ20N4

Gary Anderson is from the prairies of southern Alberta. He has a master's degree in English from the University of Victoria. After living for a time in Korea, he resides with his wife and two children in New Jersey.