THE DEARLY BELOVED by Cara Wall

James and Charles become joint pastors and close friends at a Presbyterian church in Greenwich Village.  Although the book addresses their struggles with God and with their calling to the ministry, this is not strictly a book about religion.  It is largely a book about marriage.  James, whose education was made possible financially by an uncle, is the son of an alcoholic.  His main objective early in life is to escape the same fate.  Later, he chooses the ministry as a path toward a life of enacting social change.  Charles, in stark contrast, is an academic who cannot ignore his calling to preach.  Their wives are just as different from one another as the two men are.  James marries Nan, whose father is also a minister.  Lily marries Charles, although she is not certain that she can ever really love him, as she is still grieving the loss of her parents in an accident when she was a teen.  More puzzling is that Charles loves her and marries her, despite the fact that she is an avowed atheist.  Initially, it seemed to me that Lily would have been a better fit for James, especially as she becomes somewhat of an activist, and Nan would have been a better fit for Charles.  If ever there were an example of opposites attracting, these two marriages fit the bill, and in the immortal words of Rocky Balboa, they fill each other’s gaps.  The author gives pretty much equal attention to all four characters, but Lily is the most compelling, in my opinion.  Not only is she a minister’s wife who has no faith in God, but her life becomes infinitely more complicated when children enter the picture.  I found it to be a pleasant read, with characters I could warm up to, especially the two women, who have to struggle just to tolerate one another.