Thank you for the publisher for sending me a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

I honestly thought I would love this more than I did, but I ended up dnfing this book. I think I would have preferred this being about one of the couples because the main 4 characters seem to blend together at times.

If I were to give it a rating, a 2.5 stars. Just ok.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

This was an excellent book that showed the differences in thoughts about religion and the Bible, but also how intricate human relationships are or can be. I could see this book making people question their religious beliefs on a deeper level.

Charles is the devout son of a Harvard academic who decides during his own years at the Ivy League school that he has a calling to the ministry. While at Harvard he meets Lily, whose skepticism about God's existence doesn't deter him from asking her to be his wife. University of Chicago student James also meets his future spouse, Nan, while in college. He embarks on a career as a minister not because he believes in God but because he wants to improve others' lives through service; he is also eager to please Nan's father, who is a pastor. The two couples are thrown together in 1963 at the Third Presbyterian Church in New York City when the church advertises a vacancy, seeking a minister with "a certain dignity and intellect" who can imbue the congregation with a "certain call to action, a certain spark." Finding that Charles has the first set of characteristics while James has the second, the church decides to hire both men, and as a result the four leads find their lives inextricably linked.

In this well-crafted debut novel, author Cara Wall takes great pains with her protagonists, creating rich characters whose backgrounds and experiences are vivid and realistic. She traces their lives from childhood, and as each one reaches adulthood, we know exactly how their upbringings have shaped them into the people they've become. Also true-to-life is how their relationships with one another change over the decades, as they're cast into situations that cause friction or generate healing, sometimes between couples, sometimes across them. Readers come to appreciate how each of the four understands God, and how their beliefs have evolved over the course of their lives. The author's detailed portraits of her subjects are indisputably a highlight of the novel.

Also exceptional is Wall's multifaceted observation of life from many viewpoints; she grants her characters the insight to recognize the flaws in those they love as well as those in themselves. James' father, for example, returned from WWII an unemployable alcoholic, and in the family's southside Chicago neighborhood, the protagonist understands, his dad was far from an anomaly:

James and his brothers and the other boys knew every one of the ways they were different from their fathers. They were taller or stockier or better at baseball; they were better at math, had a head for finance, didn't hit their girlfriends. They carried those traits like lucky pennies in their pockets, hoping these were the charms that would make them different from their fathers forever.

In another passage, soldiers returning from the Korean War join Charles' classroom at Harvard. Wall expertly renders the intense discomfort he and his peers feel, ashamed that they had chosen student deferment and allowed these men to fight the nation's battles alone.

The heart of novel, though, is certainly the way the author explores the role faith in God plays in each of the four lives. Many novelists would be tempted, I think, to sway their audience toward one belief or another, but not so Wall; her writing is full of depth and free of bias. Her candid exploration of faith (or lack thereof) is thought provoking and nuanced, never coming across as off-putting, clinical or preachy. Especially impressive is how she treats the opinions of non-believing Lily as being as valid as those of devout Nan.

I enjoyed the book's first half immensely, but found my attention wandering as James and Charles advanced their careers at Third Presbyterian. They each had predictable crises they helped each other overcome, as did their wives. The protagonists' discussions about their maturing faiths were interesting but a little too long and frequent; they slowed down the the story, without adding much to our understanding of the characters. In lieu of those conversations, I would have preferred knowing more about the couples' later years. As it is, the book ends just a few years after the men's appointment, with the last decades of their lives condensed into a brief epilogue.

In spite of minor pacing issues, The Dearly Beloved is an engaging novel that gives pause, prompting one to think about the issues it presents rather than just reading solely for pleasure. Wall's writing is stellar, as is her character development. The debut is recommended for those interested in issues of faith, especially for readers seeking multiple perspectives on the question. Book groups in particular will find this one well worth their time.

Charles, Lily, James, and Nan are a dynamic quartet. The two men are ministers at the Third Presbyterian Church. They approach their faith very differently, but each man balances the other at work and in life. Their wives are very different as well--Lily does not believe in God at all after the death of her parents while Nan grew up in the church and loves being a part of a congregation. The four of them must work together to guide their church and each other through the tumult and changes of the mid-20th century.
The Dearly Beloved is a beautiful story about a lifetime of faith. It's easy to put religious people in one of two camps--either they are devout, perfect people who live quiet lives or they are hypocrites who think themselves above the virtues they espouse. Instead, these characters are real people. They have doubts and challenges, and sometimes find it difficult to interact with people who believe the same things they do. But they are people who keep trying--they show up again for their spouse, their friends, their children, and their church.

This is a life novel--there are no explosions or intrigue; instead, readers get to peek into the everyday moments of a couple having an argument, a pastor having a crisis of faith, and a mother wondering what her child will grow up to be. It's a story about truly knowing people, and walking alongside them as they go through the highs and lows of life. As someone who is married to a minister, I appreciated the kindness with which Cara Wall wrote about the oftentimes unique situations ministers and their families experience. She is a beautiful, incisive writer and I will eagerly read whatever she writes next.

The Dearly Beloved
By Cara Wall
Simon and Schuster August 2019
353 pages
Read via Netgalley

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Charles Barrett has died and James Macnally is deeply upset. I was bored by the details of the descriptions.vi tryed to like the characters but couldn't feel a connection. The tone and pacing was okay.

The story of two couples, how they met and then how the two men pastored together a New York City church. The wives stories were told as well.. I felt the story was paced well. But the characters were a bit broadly brushed in stereotypes and two dimensional. This book reads like it was published by a religious publishing company and was surprised it was a Simon & Schuster publication.

This is totally a unique story about two men leading the ministry of a church. Sharing in the duties and challenges of leading a congregation. The wives and the children become a very important part of the story and it is interesting to see their lives intermingle in a intimate way. I really loved this story and the pace the plot moved along in a way to learn more about the characters and how their lives and friendship developed along the way. I hope to read more book books by Cara Wall in the future.

Written with a great deal of care and quiet lyricism, The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall draws the reader into great emotional depths. It is a character study of two couples over decades of friendship. It explores themes of faith, love, and friendship. I am not a religious person, but I still greatly enjoyed this novel.

This is a beautifully written novel that was captivating from the first page. The characters were well developed and thought out. I could really tell that the author took her time crafting each sentence and character structure. But for all the good, as a Christian I didn't really find myself in any of these characters. I didn't see people around me reflected either. I have no doubt that there are religious people very similar to the couples, but I just don't see it so that felt a bit off. If you can put this aside, it's a well written book that deserves to be read.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this. I will be posting a full review to Goodreads, Amazon, and Instagram.

Wow....I loved this book and its examination of different faiths and beliefs. As a person of faith myself, I really enjoyed the in-depth look we got of four very different people. They are brought together and have to find a way to work and live together. I’m still debating over the ending, and what it all means. Thank you Netgalley for a copy!

I truly enjoyed this book. The story follows two families, and what I really appreciated was experiencing how the relationships between each of the main four characters began and changed throughout their time knowing each other. This book challenged me to consider the initial judgements I made about the characters as more became revealed about them throughout the course of the story and reminded me to not always trust my initial judgements.

This is a hard one for me to review without offending anyone or having a fear of being judged for what I do or do not believe in.

This book is an interesting exploration of church and faith and God and in my opinion it was WAY to heavy on the religion for my taste. I do understand that a lot of things in life, many struggles and stressors, do have people questioning their faith, and in that aspect, reading about it is interssting to me. But I find some things hard to believe - in particular when one goes from a non-believer to a believer in one split second instant.

It was a very slooooow start for me and by 75% I felt we were still exploring everyone's background before the real trials of the book occurred. I would have liked that percentage flipped and explored more of the plot at the end of the book. If I DNF'd books, this would have been one.

Very slow and uneventful for the most part.

One of the best books I’ve read in 2019. This quiet, thoughtful novel is so well written. I grew to love every character, flaws and all. It was so enjoyable getting to know each of them through different stages in their lives and especially in their faith journeys. I also really liked seeing the friendship between the couples develop over the years. This isn’t your typical happily ever after ; it’s real people dealing with real challenges with grace and courage. Highly recommend.

Thank you so much to @simonandschuster for sending me this copy of The Dearly Beloved by @carawallauthor 💙 This book has traveled with me an been read in tiny bite sized pieces as I didn’t want it to end. It has been well loved, and now that it is over I will miss Nan, James, Lily, and Charles.

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Synopsis from the publisher: 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, 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, these four forge improbable paths through their evolving relationships, each struggling with uncertainty, heartbreak, and joy.

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This is a quiet story about people, relationships, faith, friendship, and the full picture of lives lived. This isn’t a book with twists or big miraculous events, but about four people living their lives in a way that is woven together to create a beautiful lifetime though many trials and tribulations. The characters in this book were so well developed they seemed to be people you really knew. It is such a beautifully written story and I would highly recommend it.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a beautiful and poignant story of two couples who lead their "dearly beloved". Charles and James minister to a congregation together and their lives and those of their wives are inextricably intwined forever. This was so beautifully written I wished that I could have known these four people. This novel paints a complicated picture of the lives of the congregation, the ministers, their wives, the auxiliary help that run a church through the changes that occur throughout the years. I would definitely recommend this book.

This book was a bit slow but once it began to come together I fell in love. So wonderfully written with characters that you just feel so deeply for.

4.5 stars

Beginning in the 1960s, one of my favorite time periods, this is a story somewhat reminiscent of Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. We follow two couples for many decades: Charles and James who co-pastor a church, and their wives, Lily and Nan.

Charles is the deep thinker, the pastor whose strength is counseling parishioners who are struggling with difficulties. James is the activist who believes his job is to stir the parishioners into action to right the world’s injustices.

Lily is the atheist wife who is non-traditional and has zero interest in being friends with Nan or becoming involved in the life of the parish. Nan is the woman of faith who is a do-gooder and is perfectly content being a traditional pastor’s wife who longs for nothing more than to be a wife and mother. These two women personify the changing role of women through the turbulent 1960s.

But what happens when life doesn’t quite work out as you expected? Life and relationships are messy. Tragedy and losses occur. This character-driven novel doesn’t offer easy solutions but thoughtfully examines the complexities of life, and how our beliefs, life experiences, and background affects the way we relate to others, and how we weather the storms of life. Who has grit, and why?

This story is beautifully written and gives the reader much to ponder. The characters are realistically complex and my feelings changed about each of them as I read.

This was a buddy read with Marialyce and is definitely one of our better discussion books. We had many thoughtful conversations and I’m so glad I had her to talk with as we read.

The last 20% was a tad too pat and predictable, but for a debut it was amazing and I’m looking forward to seeing what the author does next.