The Dearly Beloved: A Novel

Written by Cara Wall

Narrated by Kathy Keane

“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 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Aug 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9781508297536

Cara Wall

Cara Wall is a graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and Stanford University. While at Iowa, Cara taught fiction writing in the undergraduate creative writing department as well as at the Iowa Young Writer’s Studio in her capacity of founder and inaugural director. She went on to teach middle school English and History, and has been published by Glamour, Salon, and The San Francisco Chronicle. She lives in New York City with her family.

Reviews for The Dearly Beloved

[Joan Birnie · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Yuck! This is a Hallmark movie. Not realistic at ALL.

[Teresa Pearl · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Super religious! Very heavy on “finding god” and “callings.” I would NOT recommend this unless you or your book club frequently enjoy religious novels. Somewhat entertaining story of 2 very different couples that find themselves together running a church. I finished it but could not stop rolling my eyes at all of the religious references.

[tiffany · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sooooooo good! I didn’t want it to end!! Perfectly written

[Laurel S · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cara Wall’s descriptive language draws you in to feel like you really connect with the characters and what they’re experiencing. There is love and loss and challenge, all so well depicted. I haven’t loved a book this much in some time.

[Evelina Tota · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What an amazing read! I loved the characters and the plot .

[Jamie Stutes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book immensely! Very poignant! 5 stars!

[steve02476 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well done I guess but not my kind of novel (read it for my book club). Mostly I didn’t find the characters interesting (I did like Lily). And way too much religion for my taste.

[Eric Nelson · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The prose tries too hard and the story just isn’t enough to sustain it. Interesting topics are broached, but not explored. Every character is flat, and talks like a pedantic English major. Not at all as billed, and nothing like the similar title that led to the recommendation (The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett). I kept reading in hopes it would redeem itself, but alas, all I have is a new commitment to more research before such an undertaking.

[Danae Giacchino · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was amazing. Filled with truth yet also real feelings and thoughtful reflections about the world. I haven't finished many books lately, but I couldn't stop listening to this book!

[Debra · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book has a unique look at faith and its challenges.

[Kena Lynn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have never listened to a book so moving. I would recommend this book to everyone especially people in ministry

[Sarah Bencosme · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best books I’ve ever read. Raw.

[Seema Sura · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Started out good and then went downhill. Incredibly boring and my attention kept drifting

[forsanolim · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book centers on two couples, Charles and Lily as well as James and Nan. Charles and James are both ministers who become co-leaders of a church in New York City. Each of the four has a dramatically different relationship with religion: Charles focuses on guiding the church members, while James (though not entirely confident in his own faith) focuses on effecting social justice through his position. The wives diverge even more: Nan, the daughter of a minister, is comfortable in her faith and in her role as a minister's wife, while Lily believes in her husband but staunchly does not believe in God. Through this book, we follow their lives for a number of years.I've had this on my radar since it came out, so I'm really glad that I finally got to this. I found this really lovely and thought it was really interesting to watch the characters' lives unfold.

[dawnlovesbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Dearly Beloved is about two different married couples. Both husbands are ministers and the book follows their lives and the lives of their wives from college until the end. The book has alot to say about faith, not just faith in God, but faith in ourselves and each other. It is also about life, the trials we all must face, and how we all learn from and struggles and survive the things we think we can't. I enjoyed reading about these four very different people and how in the end they all became dearly beloved family to one another.

[maryreinert · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This a book about two Presbyterian ministers and their wives in the late 50’s and early 60’s. I feel it is written by someone who wanted to write about faith and church and had very little understanding of either. James grows up in a dysfunctional family but marries Nan from a “storybook” family led by a minister. Charles grows up in a liberal intellectual east coast family whose father is a Harvard professor with little respect for church or faith. He marries Lily, a studious and serious woman who lost her parents at an early age. Lily basically does not believe in God; James is not certain but feels called to the ministry in order to “change the world.”This is the story of the two men who wind up sharing a pastorship in New York City and their wives who are extremely different and simply do not like one another. As times goes, Lily becomes pregnant and gives birth to twins boys, one who is autistic. The story assumes a lot about church leadership and the role of pastors which was a bit of a stretch for me. The part about the birth of the children was more interesting. The “happy” ending was also a bit of a stretch, but did say something about how friendship develops even between very dissimilar people.

[techeditor_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While you will find THE DEARLY BELOVED shelved among many other novels, this one should stand out. It is character-driven, which can be a good sign, but plenty of authors get it wrong. Cara Wall doesn’t.THE DEARLY BELOVED is about four people, James and Nan, Charles and Lily. James marries Nan, a devoutly religious daughter of a minister. Lily reluctantly marries Charles. James and Charles become ministers and preach together for 40 years. Each of these four people is examined over 50 years.Character-driven novels always run the risk of becoming boring. That is partly because they often contain little or no plot. This could be said of THE DEARLY BELOVED, but Wall has included in it topics that other novels shy away from such as discussion of faith in God (and lack of it), living with a mentally deficient family member, and good marriages that endure. Her careful analyses and well-written dialogue will keep you engaged.

[carriewuj · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Best book of the year. Granted, the year is early, but this book is amazingly beautiful, well-written, thought-provoking without being issue driven. It tells the story of 2 couples, Nan and James McNally and Lily and Charles Barrett - and has an old-fashioned feel - as it is set in the 50s-60s. There is a little bit of backstory about each character's childhood, how they meet their spouses, their courtship, and finally how the two couples come together. The way these 4 independent lives are woven together to form a cohesive whole is masterful and doesn't emotionally manipulate or create contrived drama. Nan comes from the South, James comes from Chicago. They meet at a concert when she attends Wheaton College and he attends University of Chicago. Lily is from Missouri, Charles is from Boston and they also meet in college at Harvard/Radcliffe. These are people who value learning, thinking, knowing yourself, common decency for the greater good....and ultimately through trial and error both James and Charles in their separate schools begin to study for the ministry. Nan is a minister's daughter, so this is familiar territory for her. Lily is an atheist, so it is a testimony to her love for Charles that she signs on for this lifestyle. As young marrieds, each couple has a parish - the Barretts in Nantucket and the McNallys in England. The four converge back in NYC at Third Presbyterian on 12th and 5th Ave, where Charles and James are hired for a joint pastorship. How they balance each other, how the 2 couples get along, how Lily and Nan become friends, how they suffer personal setbacks and start families comprises the 2nd half of the book. There is some turbulence of the 60s, but it is ancillary and there is no high drama of secret passions or affairs between the couples (thank God), but just the ordinary challenges it takes to continue to love your life and allow others into it in a meaningful way. Central to the story is the question of faith and how you live it, but it is never preachy or heavy-handed or even fully committed to a particular belief system. It put me in mind of Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner - another lovely, meaningful read. I will definitely return to this one.

[vintagereader · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I started out really enjoying this book. I like reading about the 50s and 60s, and I got a kick out of some things, like Charles's last name being Barrett and meeting Lily in the Radcliffe library, just like Oliver (Barrett, as in Barrett Hall) and Jenny. It went on in an interesting way for quite some time, but I thought the narration got awfully heavy-handed toward the end. I mean, I know Presbyterian ministers probably do a fair amount of musing about God, but I got really tired of reading about every thought they had in that direction.

[ellenh_28 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a great story of 2 couples going through a thoughtful, loving, painful look at real life friendships, relationships, and religious questions and change throughout their lives. But don't think it's dull or preachy, I wouldn't have gotten through it if it was. But it makes you think. It would be a good book club book. I hadn't thought I'd like it, so waited til now to get to it. Try it, you may love it.

[kimmeyer-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely loved this book, in the most sincere, hug it to your chest, type of way. This is what Anne Bogel would call a quiet novel, and I wouldn't expect a story in which God is the fifth main character to captivate me, but it did. The writing is restrained but there are some really poignant paragraphs and the whole book is just beautiful. (I received an ARC of this title.)

[vancouverdeb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was beautiful debut from a talented writer. It's a quiet, character driven novel. At it's heart , it's about marriage, friendship and also faith. The story begins in 1953. Charles and Lily are one of the couples. Charles comes from a well - off family that hopes he will become a university professor like his father. Instead, Charles feels drawn to the ministry, but marries a woman who declares that she will never believe in God. James comes from a poor family, with an alcoholic father. He meets and marries Nan, a daughter of a minister . The two couples find themselves thrust together as they co- minister at a Presbyterian Church . We follow the two couples through decades of love, anger, crises of faith, infertility and jealousy. Highly recommended

[thewanderingjew_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Dearly Beloved, Cara Wall, author; Kathy Keane, narratorThis novel is about relationships and how they mature through experience over the years. It is a progressive approach to life’s problems, like poverty, race, religion, education, parenting, illness, loss, compassion and life in general. It is about need and dependence as much as it is about independence and solitude. Each of the characters is unique, and still, they all manage to find common ground and to enrich the lives of each other.The book takes place over a period of about 50 years, but concentrates on the initial years of the interactions of the characters. It begins with a death and moves back in time to fill in the gaps and develop the story. It is peppered with interesting characters that rise to the occasion when challenged with situations that appear insurmountable. It is about marriages of opposites and the power of compromise in the face of what seems like an impossible enigma. It is about dogma, intransigence, opportunity, open mindedness, freedom, civil rights, health care and more. It is about how each of these ideas affects the lives of the characters.Charles believes in G-d. He goes to Divinity School to become a minister. He is very disciplined and sure of his faith. He marries Lily, an academic who does not believe in G-d. She refuses to attend church. She loves the city and prefers to be alone. She does not desire friendships, but rather intellectual camaraderie. She is a bit of a radical.James does not know if he believes in G-d, but he feels he is called to the ministry because he wants to bring about social change. He does not like protocol and is willing to break rules. He marries Nan who is very devout and loves being involved in the church. She loves community and would like to make friends and socialize.As polite and well mannered and well groomed as Nan is always, Lily is the opposite. She is often unconcerned about her appearance and can be very rude and selfish. Nan is motivated by a need to help and Lily is motivated by a need to protect herself from further loss.Jane Atlas is the chief administrator of the church that employs both James and Charles jointly. They are two sides of the same coin and work well together. Jane is a no nonsense senior citizen, completely in charge who guides them through their early time as they get to know each other and the parishioners. She knows instinctively, and from experience, what the members of the church desire in their ministers.Annelise is ayoung woman who marches to her own drummer and is innovative when it comes to teaching methods for children who are developmentally disadvantaged, either physically or mentally or both. She is willing to try new approaches as she treats those she helps with respect and acceptance.Marcus is a young black man who helps out at the church in order to pay for and complete his higher education. He is also a kind and compassionate young man of color. He and Annalise fall in love, although, they too, are total opposites, and of different races. The one thing all of these characters have in common is their desire to enrich the world in some way.In this book, all of the tragedies, misfortunes and misunderstandings are approached with solutions that open new opportunity rather than shut doors to progress. Each character grows as they make their relationships work as they muddle through their issues, always with a forward look, never an angry backward approach. No problem, no emergency, no unexpected occurrence ever holds these characters back. They stop and think and find solutions which enable them to deal with their challenges and work out their issues so that the outcome is positive or the best it can be. They do not hold grudges, and they do not harbor grievances. Their lives are guided by love and not a desire to disrupt or destroy. They want to build and grow. Although there are times when one or another character succumbs to the vicissitudes of life, it is short lived. They regroup and move forward. Whenever possible, they offer help and forgive those who are rude or selfish. The greatest thing about this book is how things work out, how differences are overcome, how they are part of the solution and not the problem.The book is about the different ways we look at life, approach religion, accept differences in others and overcome our hardships. These characters soldier on and always find a way to see the silver lining, not the clouds. They look for ways to appreciate what they have, rather than condemn others for what they are missing. They are independent and responsible adults, although they are different; some are nerdy, some quirky, some staid and some flamboyant, but all seem to be motivated by the right ideas.

[twinkley_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I went in thinking I would like this and I ended up mostly loving it. I am not religious, agnostic at best, and I was surprised by how much I liked this book. It was well written and I thought all of the characters were complex, with their own unique imperfections and I felt fully invested in their struggles and triumphs. There were times when I liked one character more than the other but that also changed throughout the book. By the end of the book, I liked them all. I found this book to be very emotional but hopeful.

[kglattstein · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This novel is rooted in faith, finding it, being disillusioned to the point of disavowing faith due to life’s circumstances, being “called to the faith”, and working through relationships and struggles reconciling differences, and self-examination. The descriptions of the book don’t do it justice and I probably wouldn’t of picked it up if it someone wouldn't of pressed it into my hands. The 1960s setting adds depth to conversations and reconciliations. It is so good I may read it again because there are so many reflections that I’d like to jot down.

[shazjhb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book. Liked the people and the issues

[mm_jones · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In this, her debut novel, Cara Wall uses the intertwined lives of two couples to write about how early emotional experiences lead to the decisions we make. With an emphasis on the ministry of the two male characters, the story touches on college life, marriage, career, children and belief. I found myself engrossed by sections, but overall the pace is slow and the characters mundane. A few wonderful short stories enrobed in much background detail.

[bookchickdi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cara Wall’s debut novel, The Dearly Beloved, is set in the 1960s New York City. Two young ministers — Charles, the son of academics who are perplexed by his choice of career, and James, whose father came home from World War II a broken alcoholic — are hired to be pastors of the historic Third Presbyterian Church in Greenwich Village. Charles is a student of scripture and wants to tend to his parishoners’ spiritual needs. James finds that he is drawn to the social justice needs of the people living in the city. He sees poverty and neglect, and believes that the church should be addressing society’s larger problems.Charles’ wife, Lily, is not religious. Her parents died when she was a teenager, and she lost her faith because of it. She was a good wife to Charles, but she had no interest in being a traditional pastor’s wife or being involved in the church in any way. As society was going through major upheaval in the 1960s, Lily became more involved in women’s issues.James’ wife, Nan, came from a religious family. Her father was a popular minister and her mother was a traditional pastor’s wife, something that Nan did her best to emulate. Nan became very involved in the church, starting a youth choir, and sat in the front row each Sunday.Nan wanted to be friends with Lily, but Lily wanted nothing to do with Nan. The other thing Nan wanted was to have children. Lily didn’t particularly care for children. When Lily became pregnant, it caused further friction.The Dearly Beloved is a moving story about faith, family, friendship and love. Charles loved Lily and respected her choice not to be involved in the church. Nan respected her husband’s choice to be more socially relevant, but she encouraged him not to neglect his own parish.Both couples are tested by personal challenges over the years, things that could tear apart a marriage and friendship. I found myself involved in their stories, and moved by their circumstances. Wall writes these characters so beautifully, you may not understand their choices, but you will care deeply what happens to them.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A tremendously well done first novel. Two couples whose lives will become entwined for better and worse. Charles, whose faith in God is all inclusive and Lily his wife who after the loss of her parents, no longer believes. Jan, a pastors daughter, whose faith is the mainstay of her life, and her husband James, who wants to change things, so becomes a pastor for this purpose. One church, two pastors.This is not a subject I'm usually drawn to, liturgical matters and this is a subject that is front and center. It is the struggles of these four very different people that for me was the draw, characters that one finds real and honest. How they change with the very real trials and tribulations of life. Marriage, Parenthood, community needs, pastoral services, friendship and adjustments. The character I had the hardest time accepting, Lily, would prove to be the strongest and by books end one I greatly admired. Their are moments of joy, moments of sadness. The writing is mature, the subject matter including autism, ones faith, doubt and hopes are all gently explored. In fact that is the feel of this book, a gentleness in the portrayal of flawed individuals who learn through time to make the many adjustments life often asks of us.ARC from Simon and Schuster.

[pgchuis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.James and Charles are co-ministers at a Presbyterian Church for 30 years, although this is really the story of how they meet their respective wives and the first few years of their ministry. Then it jumps to Charles' death (this is also the prologue) with nothing about the intervening years. I disliked Lily, Charles' wife (I think we were meant to) so much that it ruined the novel for me, although I also struggled to understand exactly what Charles and James thought they were bringing to ministry. There was no real focus on the parishioners, who just featured to make the men's lives difficult or to misunderstand their wives. There was no sense of warmth or joy or humour in this story and I skimmed the second half.It started promisingly, and I was disappointed. I wanted Lily and Charles to enhance each other's lives and they didn't. I wanted Nan to grow more as a character than she did, and I wanted everyone to take themselves less seriously.