Dearly Beloved (Wall) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
The Dearly Beloved is most compelling on romance, friendship and familial love…. Although the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement tug occasionally at the margins of the book, its attention is on the personal, not the social…. But it is delightful to see male friendship taken so seriously, and love handled so tenderly; some of the most stirring scenes in The Dearly Beloved are the ones that dramatize the love one spouse feels for another or that parents feel for their children.
Casey Cep - New York Times Book Review -


An unusually assured debut, the book examines faith with revelatory nuance…. The beauty of this slow burner will stay with you, religious or not.
People


The Dearly Beloved is a superb exploration of faith and marriage. Of all the books on this list—maybe this year—it’s the gentlest, a wise and searching story of purpose and passion, spanning decades and filled with empathy (Best Debut Novels of 2019)
Entertainment Weekly


A rare and intellectually stimulating outing…. By creating such well-defined characters, [Wall] is able to all the more effectively explore the role of faith, or its lack, in dealing with the pressures of marriage, child-rearing, and work
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review) Finely drawn and written with compassion and care, and every word is precisely chosen...This story will be beloved by book clubs and fans of literary fiction.
Library Journal


Underlying the very readable, honestly human propulsion of her characters' lives in their near-entirety, Wall does a tricky thing quite well, exploring the facts of faith and love at both their most exalting and most trying.
Booklist


(Starred review) [C]ombining the viewpoints of a quartet of characters across multiple decades and events. Finely drawn and paced and written with intense compassion...A moving, eloquent exploration of faith and its response to the refining fire of life's challenges.
Kirkus Reviews