This is another great faith book. The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall is 338 pages of story with questions at the end for discussion.. In the beginning of the book, we get a brief history of the character’s and how their lives have been. The characters, Charles and Lily Barrett; James and Nan MacNally spend a lifetime together living and working. The story opens with Charles dying and begins how the couples meet and the backgrounds that each one comes from. Love is in the air and this story is a religious one.
Charles Barrett is a Boston Family and his father was the head of the Classics Department at Harvard where he taught seminars on Romans and Greeks. Charles liked comic books. Charles and Lily met at the library. Lily was adopted after her parents died. Her uncle, Richard, was a lawyer and raised her with Mirium, his wife. Charles talent was in research and writing, so it led him to divinity school. Lily studied literature at Radcliffe and met Charles in 1956. Lily doesn’t believe in God.
James MacNally grew up in Chicago, southside and his mother worked at the telephone company and his father drank. James registered for the draft. James wanted to know more about what his friends worried about: jobs, fund raising and community outreach to New York. James never thought he would meet a girl he wanted to marry. He had longed for girls before, admired their beauty, stared at them for hours, only because they were vibrant and happy. He had wanted them because he wanted something in his life that he did not want to make go away. He had never thought of marriage, because of his parents’ marriage. He didn’t believe in God. He married Nan and lived in London.
Nan MacNally spent her first semester at Wheaton writing letters to her mother. She enjoyed literature, French, and music. She was involved in music at her church as a child. James and her met at a piano recital. Nan was blond and chubby. Nan had faith and was the gentlest and most considerate person James had ever known. Nan’s life was constructed of three things. She loved her family, music, and God.
The search committee of the Third Presbyterian Church brings these two families together to work for them.
One of the quotes that I like from the book is from the teacher’s and preacher’s: “society fail” his father told the freshman year after year “when men are rewarded for seeking pleasure instead of responsibility.”
The author, Cara Wall, grew up in Greenwich Village and attended Stanford University and the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. She has traveled, but lives in New York City with her family. This book is available at the library and is on “Open Book with Jenna” podcast list.
I rate this book with a 5 being excellent out of 5. I believe people of faith and people of little faith would enjoy this book. It gives a natural look at people who are suppose to have a strong faith and shows how they are human and question their faith.
Literary Review 