“This gentle, gorgeously written book may be one of my favorites ever.” –Jenna Bush Hager (A Today show “Read with Jenna” Book Club Selection!) This “moving portrait of love and friendship set against a backdrop of social change” (The New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice) traces two married couples whose lives become entangled when the husbands become copastors at a famed New York city … copastors at a famed New York city congregation in the 1960s.
Charles and Lily, James and Nan. They meet in Greenwich Village in 1963 when Charles and James are jointly hired to steward the historic Third Presbyterian Church through turbulent times. Their personal differences however, threaten to tear them apart.
Charles is destined to succeed his father as an esteemed professor of history at Harvard, until an unorthodox lecture about faith leads him to ministry. How then, can he fall in love with Lily–fiercely intellectual, elegantly stern–after she tells him with certainty that she will never believe in God? And yet, how can he not?
James, the youngest son in a hardscrabble Chicago family, spent much of his youth angry at his alcoholic father and avoiding his anxious mother. Nan grew up in Mississippi, the devout and beloved daughter of a minister and a debutante. James’s escape from his desperate circumstances leads him to Nan and, despite his skepticism of hope in all its forms, her gentle, constant faith changes the course of his life.
In The Dearly Beloved, Cara wall reminds us of “the power of the novel in its simplest, richest form: bearing intimate witness to human beings grappling with their faith and falling in love,” (Entertainment Weekly, A-) as we follow these two couples through decades of love and friendship, jealousy and understanding, forgiveness and commitment. Against the backdrop of turbulent changes facing the city and the church’s congregation, Wall offers a poignant meditation on faith and reason, marriage and children, and the ways we find meaning in our lives. The Dearly Beloved is a gorgeous, wise, and provocative novel that is destined to become a classic.
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Starting this book, I had doubts. Finishing it, I had none. THE DEARLY BELOVED by Cara Wall is a brilliant character study of four people – two couples whose lives become entwined when the men, Presbyterian ministers, are hired to share a congregation in New York.
This book is not about religion. It’s about faith – in ourselves, in each other, and, yes, in God. These are issues with which Charles and his wife Lily, and James and his wife Nan struggle. The time is the 60s, and social change is rampant. New York is the epicenter of the clash between old and new, and these four people are its embodiment.
On one hand, there is Charles, who feels a direct connection to God, but is married to Lily, who doesn’t believe in God at all. Then there is James, who sees God as the drive in men to make the world better. James’s wife Nan, the daughter of a minister, is primed for the traditional role of the minister’s wife, but traditional is not what she gets.
Reviewing such a … full … book is difficult. We’re talking love and friendship, tragedy and hope, belief and disbelief, grief, joy, and fulfillment. The characters are very real and, in that, complex, but the author paints the four in vivid detail. They grow, they change, they think, and feel, and fear.
Beautifully written, THE DEARLY BELOVED is also eminently readable. I heartily recommend it.
A thoughtful, beautiful multigenerational novel about love, God, jealousy, and friendship.
I love character-driven books, and The Dearly Beloved’s main characters have stayed with me long after I’ve closed the book.
I have read and re-read and re-read this book. Each time I close the last page I am so tempted to start it from the beginning again. I don’t want to leave the characters and the story so beautifully crafted!
4.5 Stars!
I’m not even going to try to review this book thoroughly. I feel a heavy bias regarding the content and wouldn’t want that to deflect from a very well-written book one way or the other. The Dearly Beloved came highly recommended from a reader friend and rightly so. It was moving, conflicting, sad, and uplifting. I felt a number of strong emotions and it had me reflecting and contemplating. Some of the bigger messages in this story spoke to where I am in my own life right now, as well as the current social climate. I think this is a book that will mean different things to different people, but in the end each person should experience a thought-provoking story from a very talented debut author. Ultimately, I think that this was a brave piece of literary fiction and I’m thrilled that it has received so much recognition and reader love.
THE DEARLY BELOVED by Cara Wall follows the lives of four people, two couples and their relationships both in and out of the church.
Told from third person perspectives THE DEARLY BELOVED, set against the turbulent times of the 50s, 60s and 70s- following the end World War II, the Korean War, and the drama and protestations of the Vietnam conflict-THE DEARLY BELOVED is a story of opposites attract including the opposition to church and faith. Lily lost her parents at the age of fifteen, and in the ensuing aftermath walked away from church and God. Meeting Charles, a devout man with aspirations of the cloth found Lily struggling with a direction in life, a direction that would take Lily towards a path in opposition to her husband’s faith, and those of the Church for which he attends.
Nan grew up following the preachings and ministry of her beloved father but never expected to fall in love with a man who struggles with his faith. Charles earlier years brought with it the pain of hardship and the aftermath of war, but a life focusing on God gave Charles a purpose and a path, albeit a path that meandered both in and out of the spiritual belief.
THE DEARLY BELOVED is not a story of God and religion, but a story of faith, doubt and belief. Both couples will struggle with family, friendships, and acceptance. Lily is a woman intent on following a path of protests and equal rights, while Nan battles to accept that Lily will never be the friend she was hoping to find.
Cara Wall’s story will resonate with readers regardless of their religious beliefs. A journey of four unlikely friends, whose personal relationships, are in opposition to their professional lives, THE DEARLY BELOVED is a thought provoking and character driven story about the humanity of faith ( as religion is a man-made construct); the conflict and arrogance of a belief system that seemingly goes against the reality of the world; and the promise of acceptance, the optimism and judgment, and the perception that faith, belief and prayer are the balm to a world in pain and sin.
There are struggles and battles, a crisis of confidence between man and God, and a crisis of faith between man and church. The character development of Nan and Lily is lacking, to some degree, as neither one is willing to accept that which they do not understand including the belief in, or lack of belief in a higher power, while James and Charles waiver in their own beliefs as the personal struggles and hardships of both couples come to fruition.
I was interested in reading The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall when I learned it concerned the relationship between two pastors and their wives. My husband served over thirty years in the parish ministry.
Wall’s characters come from different backgrounds and experiences.
There is the scholarly Charles who accidentally stumbles upon faith and holds it without question. Suffering a devastating loss, Lily angrily rejects the idea of God or ‘a plan,’ and the reliability of happiness rooted in others. Charles pursues Lily, in spite of her rejection.
There was only circumstance and coincidence. Life was random, neutral, full of accidents…the prerequisite for love was trust; and Lily did not trust anything. ~from The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
Nan is a Pastor’s Kid with a naive and untested faith. James escapes his dysfunctional environment with a scholarship to university. His interest in Nan brings him to church. He struggles to believe while embracing the pastoral call as a vehicle to address societal problems.
“I may not believe in God, but I believe in ministry.” ~James in The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
Charles and James represent the pastoral and the prophetic roles and are hired by Third Presbyterian Church in a coministry. They balance each other. When parishioners complain that James was “asking us to change views we’ve held all our lives,” Charles replys, “That’s what you hired him to do.”
The wives are a different story. Lily pursues a PhD and academic career and leaves the traditional, constricted role of pastor’s wife to Nan. Their differences are further shown when Nan is devastated by miscarriages and Lily struggles with an unwanted pregnancy–twins.
One of the twins is born with autism, leading Charles to depression while Lily crusades to find the best life for her son. James steps up with a life-changing idea.
The couples become a remarkable community, learning from each other and changing each other. Their story is a microcosm of how the church should work.
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There was only one call. They were, the four of them, married to each other, in a strange way.~ from The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
Casey Cep’s review in the New York Times wrote, “Rather than seeming like two ministers, James and Charles sometimes read as if the pastoral teachings of Henri Nouwen and the political theology of Reinhold Niebuhr were fighting for control of one parish…”
I was intrigued by the identification of the characters with the theologians Nouwen and Niebuhr, both of whom I have read.
But I did not see Charles and James as ‘fighting’ for control as much as the parishioners splitting over their differing messages and styles.
In our experience in the itinerant ministry, where pastors with differing styles follow each other, some section of the parish will reject the incoming pastor for not being the previous pastor. Humans have a preference for leaders who align with their set of personal beliefs and reject those who offer a different perspective.
I have known pastors like James. We joined the Methodist Federation for Social Action in the mid-1970s. Some pastors took controversial actions. Ending the nuclear arms race was an important issue at the time and people were chaining themselves to the gates in protest. Men who became pastors during Vietnam and the Civil Rights era carried their message throughout their career, even when the church had become more conservative politically and religiously, resulting in rejection.
I do not agree with Cep when she writes, “Instead of discussing soteriology or theodicy or even Jesus, they talk in the blanched terms of bad things and good people, even with one another.”
Sure, at seminary classes we talked about soteriology and eschatology and all the other ‘ologies’. (I audited six classes over three years.) But real-life pastoral ministry is about leadership, team building, financial planning, budgeting, pastoral care, listening, crisis management, and the nuts and bolts of running a nonprofit organization run by volunteers. People want answers to real life issues not theology talks. Like why does God allow bad things to happen to good people.
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I had to wonder how Wall came to understand the ‘inside story’ of ministry.
In an article, I learned that Wall’s small town, Nazarene, parents moved to New York City where they became a part of the First Presbyterian Church, the model for the church in her novel. The church had a history: it was here that Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick’s radical ideas riled dissent and led to his resignation. He moved on to Riverside Church.
First Presbyterian had two ministers. “The ministers I grew up with at First Presbyterian were very dynamic and charismatic,” Wall says. “We were close to them.”
Learn more about the novel here, where you can listen to an excerpt and hear Walls speak about her novel.
I purchased an ebook.
Characters that you feel you know as you follow them through decades during a crucial time of change in 20th in century United States
There was something beautiful and moving and challenging about this book that made me enjoy and struggle through it on a visceral level.
Set in the fifties, sixties, and seventies, this book introduces us to Charles and Lily, James and Nan, two couples who met when both men are called to minister at a Presbyterian church in New York. The four of them view faith and God very different. While James and Charles are easy friends, Nan and Lily are not. Charles sees a God of hope, James is a man of action. Nan is the minister’s daughter whose world is shaken. And Lily doesn’t believe at all. The author doesn’t point us to the right or wrong way, only shows us people and what they believe.
It’s also a story of friendship–the hard ones and the easy ones–and love–the hard parts and the easy parts. This felt like a window into the most intimate part of these characters. As they grow and stumble and find ways to move on, we readers are right there with them.
This was a book I’ll remember for a long, long time.
Stars: 5/5
Number of Ugly Cries: 1 (It was more a very long sobbing session when I finished it. I haven’t cried that hard over a book in a long time.)
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This wonderful book has all the things that are hardest to find in literature: good marriages sustained by abiding love; nourishing friendships that endure trials; nuanced explorations of religious faith; and characters who strive to do good for others while battling their own demons. What it has, in short, is that hardest-won of qualities in a novel: genuine goodness.
In 1963, Charles and James are hired to jointly minister the Third Presbyterian Church in Greenwich Village, New York City which means that their wives, Lily and Nan, are also forced together. How will their similarities and differences set the pattern for the next 40 years? Will they be able to work together companionably, or will their unique set of beliefs keep them forever divided?
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started this book, but I found myself utterly fascinated by the serious, realistic, and thoughtful look at friendship, as well as the way each character’s faith in God ebbed and flowed. As life’s gifts and hardships were granted, each character struggled with their beliefs in a unique manner. The story line dealt with several difficult questions, including: Can a marriage be successful when one half of the couple believes in God and the other does not? How do you find joy in one child when your other child struggles? How do you accept what you cannot have? And, how do you preach faith to your congregation when your own faith falters?
“No married couple has the same faith. And one faith is not better than the other.”