The Dearly Beloved

The Dearly Beloved (2019) is a historical novel written by American author Cara Wall. The novel follows the lives of two couples, Charles and Lily Barrett and James and Nan MacNally, as they navigate faith, marriage, parenthood, and hardships over 17 years in 1950s and 1960s America. While writing the novel, Wall used her knowledge of Presbyterian churches and autism to inform her work on the novel’s serious and potentially controversial themes. These themes include Faith Versus Doubt, The Impact of Personal Beliefs on Relationships, and The Search for Meaning and Purpose.

This study guide refers to the 2019 paperback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The novel and this guide discuss pregnancy loss, illegal abortions, sexual harassment and assault, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol addiction, depression, and outdated approaches to autism treatment, including institutionalization. The novel also uses offensive, outdated language to discuss autism.

Plot Summary

The novel begins in the present day with minister James MacNally receiving the news of his friend and co-minister Charles Barrett’s death. While he mourns, his wife, Nan, ponders whether God will heal his pain like her father always taught her he does. She then thinks about Charles’s widow, Lily, and laments the end of their group of four.

In the 1950s, Charles is the son of an intelligent but stern Harvard professor. He is passionate about learning and starts studying medieval history at Harvard. He takes a class instructed by a man named Tom Adams, who challenges his students. Tom invites Charles to a lecture by his friend, a priest named Father Martin, who encourages his students to consider medieval people’s genuine faith in God. Charles soon feels compelled to believe in God, and not long after, he feels called to work in ministry. He is attracted to an intelligent, bookish woman attending Radcliffe named Lily, who tragically lost her parents at 15. He pursues her, but she does not believe in God. Despite their disagreements on faith, they start a relationship and eventually marry. Charles works for a minister in Nantucket while Lily completes her dissertation, but they decide to move when she becomes dissatisfied and isolated there.

Meanwhile, James grows up in a struggling Chicago family with his war-veteran father, who struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol addiction; his Irish immigrant mother; and his siblings. He fears being drafted into Korea or becoming addicted to alcohol and yearns for an escape. His wealthy uncle offers him that escape through college. Nan is a minister’s daughter who loves music and wants to be a strong Christian, like her father, but feels uncertainty over uncomfortable things. Her father sends her to Wheaton College to strengthen her faith. While attending the University of Chicago, James meets Nan while she is performing at a concert, and they soon start courting. They fall in love, but Nan is worried about James’s lack of faith. James wants to marry her and decides to become a minister because he wants to believe and do good. He gets her father’s blessing, and he marries Nan before going to London to study. Nan revels in married life and the church she attends, but soon she suffers a miscarriage and starts to question God’s plan for her. After this, they move back to America.

In 1963, Charles and James apply to become ministers at the Third Presbyterian Church in New York City. The couples establish a routine, and Charles and James become friends while Lily works to avoid Nan, starting with a disastrous dinner in which Lily shocks Nan by voicing her lack of faith. Charles and James are well liked by the congregation, but James’s conviction to promote social justice and progressivism puts him at odds with the congregation and jeopardizes both his and Charles’s jobs. James takes a break, and Charles does a sermon series on scriptural history, which solves the problem. Nan’s happiness with James is interrupted when she suffers another miscarriage, becomes depressed, and gets angry at God. This is worsened when Lily becomes pregnant with twins. Lily struggles with pregnancy and soon finds herself confronting her grief for the first time in years. Meanwhile, Charles and James’s secretary, Jane Atlas, invites Nan into her knitting group. When Nan arranges a baby shower for Lily, Lily does not come, which disappoints Nan.

Jane later develops chest pains and dies. Charles and James speak at her funeral, and they soon hire a young Black man named Marcus to be their secretary. As Lily struggles with her fears about motherhood and her grief over her parents, Charles buys a house to make it easier for them. Lily starts to feel more at peace and no longer feels alone. Meanwhile, James secretly calls doctors and asks Nan about God’s plan. Nan continues her routine but begins to feel like all her work is pointless. Lily gives birth to twin sons named Benjamin, “Bip,” and William, “Will.” Lily struggles with motherhood, and Nan helps her with the boys. While Bip grows normally, Will shows signs of developmental delay and difficulty interacting with other children. A doctor soon diagnoses Will with autism and encourages Charles and Lily to institutionalize him. Lily demands to see a different doctor, but these visits are unfruitful, and Lily begins doing her own research. Meanwhile, James encourages Nan to seek fertility treatment, which she is reluctant to do. After Nan responds negatively to Will, Lily sends her away. Amid Will’s diagnosis, Charles turns away from God, which worries James and Nan. They try to find a way to help as the committee expresses concern with Charles’s absence.

Charles returns to the pulpit and reveals Will’s situation to the congregation. Nan confesses her fear to James and goes to apologize to Lily, giving her a doctor’s number that James found. Lily sees Dr. Madeline Foster, who has her student, Annelise Winny, help Will. Annelise lives with Charles and Lily and helps them find out how to reach Will. Will starts to appear happy, as does Lily. Charles, however, feels ashamed about his crisis of faith.

Nan takes James’s advice and has the surgeries, and she becomes pregnant. Lily confronts Charles about his isolation and tells him that she understands his faith because she has faith in Will. They then pray together. Nan gives birth to a daughter named Louise, called “Lola.” James starts a school for children with autism and makes Annelise the principal. Charles then baptizes Lola, and everyone is happy.

In the present day, Lily finds Charles dead. Waiting for the ambulance, she thinks about their lives as James and those around them come for support. When Nan arrives, Lily thinks about how Charles will always be with her through James and Nan.