Article contributed by Laura Glassman
The Dearly Beloved is a beautifully told story about the lives of four very different characters whose lives become intertwined. Each of the four navigates difficult questions of faith, life’s meaning and purpose, friendships and relationships as they grow older.
James has experienced a turbulent childhood where he was upset by his father’s alcoholism. As a young man, he meets Nan, a woman who has come from a family based in traditional faith, and her gentleness and warmth cause him fall in love with her; later, they marry. Nan’s faith propels James to discover his own, different version of what faith means to him, a version filled with doubt and rooted in the world around him. He believes strongly in the importance of being good and doing things to change the world. Charles has been brought up to believe he will have a career as a professor as his father did, but is pulled towards religion and comes to believe he has a calling. Lily, once religious, has decided to eschew all religious faith following the deaths of her parents, which causes her to lose all belief that things happen for a reason. Charles and Lily meet and despite their concerns about whether their relationship can succeed despite their differences, they love each other and decide to marry.
James and Nan, and Charles and Lily all meet when the two men are asked to jointly become ministers at a church in Greenwich Village that desperately needs new, and strong spiritual leadership. They must learn to work together despite vastly differing ideas about how to lead the congregation. Lily and Nan must navigate their lives and purpose in New York City and their own relationship with each other and with their husbands; this brings up questions about friendship for them.
This is a quiet and slow-moving book that is more character than plot driven. For readers who love good character-based novels, this is a wonderful look into the lives of the four characters as they grapple with deep and substantive questions about what they believe, how to lead their lives, how to lead or be involved in their congregation, and how to be good to each other in spite of distinct differences.
Although faith is one of the central themes in the book, it is not treated or discussed as a necessity to believe any particular thing (or at all). Rather, all of the characters grapple with and question what they believe and why. Of particular interest, Lily has always felt certainty that there is no God, but loves Charles for who he though he is deeply religious. And Charles, similarly, chooses Lily and loves her in spite of her lack of belief and certainty that there is nothing to believe in. This unusual kind of relationship, and the treatment of faith as complex and changing, is a large part of what makes the book so interesting.
Just as Lily and Charles grapple with their differences within their relationship, Charles and James grapple with their different types of faith and ideas about how best to lead their congregation. James, despite his desire to serve as a minister, often feels doubt. His faith is rooted in action, in his desire to do good and make positive changes in the world, and that is reflected in his congregational leadership. Charles’ belief is more absolute and traditional. Together, they navigate the leadership of a congregation that so desperately seeks their guidance. The Dearly Beloved is about how the characters connect and navigate relationships with people whose ideas about the world are vastly different. It is also about hope and finding faith in things in the world and how they will turn out, not just about faith in a religious sense.
This is a substantive book where characters think deeply about the world around them, their own lives, and faith. It is a deeply satisfying to read if you are looking for a thought-provoking book where the characters are beautifully developed and complex, likeable yet flawed. It is not a book where questions about life are easily answered, but rather where the characters ask themselves and each other important questions and gradually make their way to their own inner truths. It is a book where characters don’t have everything figured out. It is about characters figuring out how to live a life that feels true to who they are, a life that is meaningful.
Life is not always simple or easy for the characters in The Dearly Beloved. But a great part of the beauty of this novel is in the way it tells how each character earnestly searches for and finds truth, strength and resilience throughout their journey, no matter what they believe.
The Dearly Beloved is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
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.
The Dearly Beloved follows 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, these four forge improbable paths through their evolving relationships, each struggling with uncertainty, heartbreak, and joy. It’s a poignant meditation on faith and reason, marriage and children, and the ways we find meaning in our lives.
