The Dearly Beloved: A Novel

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick “This gentle, gorgeously written book may be one of my favorites ever.” —Jenna Bush Hager This “moving portrait of love and friendship set against a backdrop of social change” (The New York Times Book Review) 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. Against the backdrop of turbulent changes facing the city and the church’s congregation, The Dearly Beloved offers a poignant meditation on faith and reason, marriage and children, forgiveness and commitment, and the ways we find meaning in our lives.
ASIN: 198210452X
VSKU: 31UI56004LIR_ns
Condition: Good
Author/Artist:Wall, Cara
Binding: Hardcover
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact including the dust cover, if applicable . Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.