The Dearly Beloved

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

If I post a book recommendation on this blog it’s because I liked the book. Let’s take that one step further, if I finish a book it’s because I liked it. Sometimes I close a book after the last page and think, “that was nice” and sometimes I think “good story, but I wish I loved it.” The Dearly Beloved stunned me.

Charles and Lily and James and Nan, four people who both complement each other and are polar opposites. Charles and James are minsters and the story of how they came to their faith completely explain the term “a calling.” Charles thought he would teach history, James didn’t know how he would escape his upbringing in Chicago with an alcoholic father and a mother who didn’t know how to cope. Charles attended a lecture that changed his life and James was given a gift of money to further his education. He saw the injustices of the 1960’s and approached his faith as an activist, righting the wrongs of the turbulent time. Charles saw his faith as an intellectual approach to understanding.

James marries Nan, the daughter of a Mississippi minister and proper Southern minister’s wife. She is taught how to be good to everyone, how to be a partner to a minister. Her role is active, consoling, engaging with the community and being present for everyone and anyone. And she is ok with that. It’s what she knows.

Lily and Charles couldn’t be more different. Lily’s parents die when she is young and she closes herself off from everyone. She isn’t going to be that kind of hurt again ever. She hides from everyone, despises what being a minister’s wife means and tells Charles right up front she doesn’t nor ever will believe in God. But he can’t live without her and deep down believes he can change her mind.

Charles and James, put together, would be the answer to any church’s need for a minister, they are different, fulfill different needs and preach differently but complement and work together like puzzle pieces. They are hired as co-ministers at Third Presbyterian Church in New York City.

By now we are well acquainted with these four and how many times did I say to the page “you married the wrong one!” Lily and James, Nan and Charles, that’s how it should have been. But no, if opposites attract, the author gave each to the right one. We feel like we know them so well, their struggles with faith, with their lives, with accepting themselves and each other in the face of near backbreaking pain and how sticking it out is the only possible answer.

This is a jaw dropping story in the absolutely capable hands of Cara Wall. Yes, the glue in this story is about ministering and faith and struggles with faith and that’s ok. This story isn’t so much about what life is like for ministers, it’s the story of four people who become one together. This, even in the hands of a non-believing reader of any denomination, will invite you to put the book down, think, dog-ear pages, write in the margins, and call a friend.

Amazing.