The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall-Review and Interview

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 7, 2020.

The Dearly Beloved 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.

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REVIEW:THE DEARLY BELOVED by Cara Wall follows the lives of four people, two couples and their relationships both in and out of the church.

Told from third person perspectives THE DEARLY BELOVED, set against the turbulent times of the 50s, 60s and 70s- following the end World War II, the Korean War, and the drama and protestations of the Vietnam conflict-THE DEARLY BELOVED is a story of opposites attract including the opposition to church and faith. Lily lost her parents at the age of fifteen, and in the ensuing aftermath walked away from church and God. Meeting Charles, a devout man with aspirations of the cloth found Lily struggling with a direction in life, a direction that would take Lily towards a path in opposition to her husband’s faith, and those of the Church for which he attends.

Nan grew up following the preachings and ministry of her beloved father but never expected to fall in love with a man who struggles with his faith. Charles earlier years brought with it the pain of hardship and the aftermath of war, but a life focusing on God gave Charles a purpose and a path, albeit a path that meandered both in and out of the spiritual belief.

THE DEARLY BELOVED is not a story of God and religion, but a story of faith, doubt and belief. Both couples will struggle with family, friendships, and acceptance. Lily is a woman intent on following a path of protests and equal rights, while Nan battles to accept that Lily will never be the friend she was hoping to find.

Cara Wall’s story will resonate with readers regardless of their religious beliefs. A journey of four unlikely friends, whose personal relationships, are in opposition to their professional lives, THE DEARLY BELOVED is a thought provoking and character driven story about the humanity of faith ( as religion is a man-made construct); the conflict and arrogance of a belief system that seemingly goes against the reality of the world; and the promise of acceptance, the optimism and judgment, and the perception that faith, belief and prayer are the balm to a world in pain and sin.

There are struggles and battles, a crisis of confidence between man and God, and a crisis of faith between man and church. The character development of Nan and Lily is lacking, to some degree, as neither one is willing to accept that which they do not understand including the belief in, or lack of belief in a higher power, while James and Charles waiver in their own beliefs as the personal struggles and hardships of both couples come to fruition.

Copy supplied by the publisher

Reviewed by Sandy

TRC: Hi Cara and welcome to The Reading Café. Congratulations on the release of The Dearly Beloved.

We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Cara: I am a native New Yorker—I was born in New York City and grew up here and in London.

TRC: Who or what influenced your career in writing?

Cara: I was always a voracious reader and as soon as I realized that real, living people were writing books, I knew I wanted to do that, too. I went to a wonderfully supportive high school, Emma Willard—which, coincidentally, is the school the main character attends in Elizabeth Gilbert’s City of Girls. So many of my teachers there encouraged me to write: my freshman English teacher told me “I was not using the talent I so obviously possessed”, which I took as a challenge, the English department let me write a novel instead of taking senior literature, and my sophomore Creative Writing teacher introduced me to Writing Down The Bones, by Natalie Goldberg, which is the book that absolutely convinced me to be a writer. Because of their support, I never doubted that I had potential—even when I couldn’t figure out how to use it effectively.

TRC: What challenges or difficulties did you encounter writing and publishing this story?

Cara: My greatest challenge as a writer is ALWAYS getting myself to sit down to write. There were many years during the creation of this book when I did not write at all, because I was working, raising my child, and focused on the daily chores of being a grown up. Even now, I have to bribe myself with cookies to start typing.

Once I wrote it, the process of getting this book published was absolutely lovely! I met my wonderful agent, Wendy Levinson, at a mom’s night out for our kids’ school, and she found my incredible editor, Marysue Rucci. I have loved every moment of working with these two women.

TRC: Would you please tell us something about the premise of THE DEARLY BELOVED?

Cara: The Dearly Beloved follows two couples from their courtships through their first life crises. I have always been fascinated by the ways we create relationships with one another and wanted to explore the complications of the “after the happily ever after”. The two couples meet when the men become co-ministers at a church in New York City in 1963, and the women dislike each other at first sight. It was fascinating to spend so many years exploring how these two couples learn to live and work together, to support each other, even though they would never have chosen to be friends.

TRC: What kind of research/plotting did you do, and how long did you spend researching /plotting before beginning THE DEARLY BELOVED?

Cara: The characters in The Dearly Beloved are inspired by the two ministers I grew up with in my childhood church, so I had a pretty clear physical picture of them from the very beginning. I don’t write chronologically—I’m not a linear thinker—so I had many character sketches and scenes written before I started even thinking about a plot. I did quite a bit of research on autism, New York in the 1960’s, and how ministers are trained. But I did all of that during the process of writing, not before, so the most accurate answer to your question is that I just jumped into the book without a plan, and it grew on its own.

TRC: Do you believe authors should be historically accurate when writing an historical, fictional story line?

Cara: This is a hard question. Every author has to create a whole world for the reader, and I was a history major, so I find researching the details of historical time periods incredibly fun. I do think it’s the historical author’s job to represent history accurately—food, clothing, architecture, smells, sounds, current events. But there are so many wonderful ways to write historical fiction that subvert what we know of a time period; I’m thinking especially of books and stories that give minor historical characters time on center stage. Still, even if a writer chooses to revise history, I believe every author of historical fiction needs to have a good grounding in the details of their chosen time period—otherwise why write historical fiction?

TRC: Do you believe the cover image plays a deciding factor for many readers in the process of selecting a book or new series to read?

Cara: I think the synopsis on the book jacket is more important than the cover, but the deciding factor for me is always recommendations from friends.

TRC: When writing a storyline, do the characters direct the writing or do you direct the characters?

Cara: The characters, every single time.

TRC: The mark of a good writer is to pull the reader into the storyline so that they experience the emotions along with the characters. What do you believe a writer must do to make this happen? Where do you believe writers fail in this endeavor?

Cara: An acting teacher once told me that the purpose of art is to give people the gift of living through emotional experiences they could never have in their ordinary lives. She went on to say that the only way to give people those experiences is for the actor to live through them, fully and openly, on stage. “If you don’t cry, they won’t cry,” she said.

Writers need to truly feel what their characters feel in any given moment. You can’t just assume a character is happy, you need to sit with the character—or inside the character—and really tune into what’s happening in their body, in their mind, in their heart. It’s often very surprising. A character may, indeed, be happy but also angry, resentful, or bitter. This complexity is what brings characters to life on the page.When I write, my characters are real people to me, with strengths, weaknesses, biases, hopes and hatreds that are completely different than my own. I have to get to know them and then write THEIR stories for them, as carefully and truly as I can. It takes an inordinate amount of time, vulnerability, and empathy.

Another thing I learned in acting school is that it is crucially important to know what your characters want—not just in the big picture of the plot, but in each moment you choose to include on the page. This is especially important for dialogue. Conflicting desires make for electric conversations between characters. Put two people who want very different things in a room and give them a time limit to try to resolve the problem. The whole page will crackle.

TRC: Do you listen to music while writing? If so, does the style of music influence the storyline direction? Characters?

Cara: I don’t ever listen to music when I write—I’m not a huge music person and it would really distract me.

TRC: What do you believe is the biggest misconception people have about authors?

Cara: I have no idea! What is the biggest conception people have about authors?

TRC: What is something that few, if anyone, know about you?

Cara: I studied flamenco dancing for four years, and still get my castanets out every once in a while.

TRC: Who is your favorite author (living or dead)?

Cara: That’s an impossible question to answer! But some of my favorite books are A Little Life, by Hana Yanagahiri; The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert; State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett; Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward; and Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris.

TRC: On what are you currently working?

Cara: I am working on a book about a painting that is left on the steps on the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It follows two storylines: one in the present, about the people trying to figure out why the painting is significant, and one in the past that follows a painter in Italy in the years after World War II.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food: chocolate

Favorite Dessert: molten chocolate cake

Favorite TV Show: Sherlock

Last Movie You Saw: Hamilton

Dark or Milk Chocolate: dark—but only barely

Secret Celebrity Crush: Benedict Cumberbatch (not so secret)

Last Vacation Destination: Lake George

Do you have any pets? Sadly, my partner is allergic to everything.

Last book you read: Heavy, by Kiese Laymon

TRC: Thank you Cara for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations on the release of THE DEARLY BELOVED. We wish you all
the best.