Conley’s debut novel brings us to a small Massachusetts town—the symbolically-named Cana—while dramatizing an affair between two married Puritan men and its fallout. In 1730, Nathaniel Whitfield is a charismatic minister whose powerful words on the pulpit had brought about a religious awakening and persuaded 200 souls to follow him to a new settlement. Physician Arthur Lyman and his family, recent arrivals from Boston, weren’t part of the original chosen group and are made to feel like continual outsiders. The two men are close friends and something more, which fills Nathaniel with intense guilt, while Arthur finds ways to draw closer to his lover.

Their secret, however, doesn’t remain so. After viewing the pair’s late-night meeting in the forest, in a scene reminiscent of Hawthorne, Nathaniel’s daughter Sarah gets firsthand evidence of problems within her family. Gradually, Nathaniel’s depressive wife Catherine realizes the truth, and so does Arthur’s forthright wife, Anne. The two families’ unwitting complicity and silence, preferring not to voice a relationship they can hardly explain, ring true for the era. Even more, Nathaniel’s role comes with high expectations for another Christian revival, but his longings for men make him feel completely unworthy.

Conley confidently acknowledges the reality that queer people lived and loved in all past eras, one of his admitted goals, while imbuing his story with considerable depth about how religion can simultaneously exalt and constrain us. Notably, he looks beyond the core relationship to show its repercussions on family members, especially Sarah and her young brother, Ezekiel. (Actually, the later sections focus so much on others that the plot feels a bit diffuse.) In a particularly intriguing subplot, Sarah gets held back by her gender after discovering a surprising talent. This novel has a lot going on, and it mostly works, all evoked in thoughtful language bordering on mystical at times.
(from the Historical Novels Review, Aug 2024)

It's important to find books that resonate with us personally. While the skill and beautiful prose of the book are admirable, the story and characters didn't capture my interest. We all have different preferences when it comes to literature. I think this book will really speak to some people. It just didn't speak to me.

A wonderfully, well-done work that sits at the intersection of historical fiction, queer fiction, and religious fiction. The author brings to life a world long since passed, and injects the drama of finding one's identity directly into its heart. While the work is immensely readable, it is not an "easy" or light piece of fiction. Rather, this is a work that asks you to be immersed in the work and, in return, it rewards close reading several times over. Clearly linked to other, much early pieces of American literature, it is easy for me to see this work entering the canon as well. Highly suggested for those who enjoy literary and/or historical fiction.

I have a deep appreciation for the Scarlet Letter, and the connection between that novel and All the World Beside is quite clear. This novel was a fantastic exploration of sexuality as it intersects with religion and the communal trauma that can arise in these environments. I found the writing to be evocative while also being clear and precise. The author's previous work, Boy Erased, was absolutely heartbreaking yet brilliant, and I'm honored to be able to read what I believe to be the artistic catharsis of his previous experience in conversion therapy. I highly recommend this book to those in the queer community as well as general historical fiction readers. There is a lot to be learned in this book for many types of readers. Wonderfully done.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gerrard Conley, and the publisher Riverhead Books for this ARC copy in exchange for my review.

Set in eighteenth-century New England, amid the spiritual fervor and strict dogmatism of the Great Awakening, Garrod Conley’s All the World Beside follows two men—Nathaniel, a minister, and Arthur, a physician—who defy their religious community’s mores and enter into an intense, clandestine love affair. As the story unfolds, we see how their illicit romance impacts those around them: Anne, Arthur’s wife, a beautiful and sensuous woman stifled by the austere simplicity of her chosen religion; Catherine, Nathaniel’s wife, tormented to illness by her husband’s secrets; Ezekiel, Nathaniel’s son, who feels confused and isolated in his own body; and Sarah, Nathaniel’s daughter, who feels called by God to lead a revival even though women in her religion are barred from such roles. In this sense the book offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of an intense and unremitting faith, and of the many lives reshaped by its zeal.
…
I absolutely loved this book! Conley writes about religious faith with the insightfulness and clarity of someone who knows the contours of evangelical devotion, but also offers really fresh and distinctive ways of thinking about what it means to experience the divine. This book is not fast paced or plot driven; it’s a deeply introspective, quiet character study. I felt so connected to all of these people—so drawn into their interior lives, so invested in the subtle and not-so-subtle ways they navigated the strictures of their society. I can’t wait to pick up Conley’s memoir (Boy Erased) and I also look forward to whatever fiction he writes next!

All the World Beside is a thoughtful, atmospheric story that focuses on two families living in Puritan New England during the First and Second Great Awakenings. It isn't a plot-heavy book but it spans many different themes—religious belief, women's empowerment, queer love and identity, chronic illness, unconventional and found family. The story revolves primarily around an affair between two men that joins their families together permanently and alters the lives of all involved.

The novel itself is rooted in real history around religious revivals and queer identity in early America. It was refreshing to see the characters deviate from common tropes we find in this type of novel—no witches, no zealots. However, there was quite a bit of exposition through dialogue (monologue, really), which holds the reader back from feeling fully immersed in the story. The ending is sad and inevitable but, ultimately, leaves room for hope.

In "All the World Beside" by Garrard Conley, the setting of 18th-century Puritan New England serves as the backdrop for the decades-long love story of Reverend Nathaniel Whitfield and Arthur Lyman that defies societal norms and rigid moral standards of the time. The tension between the two men is palpable as they grapple with their desires and the fear of condemnation from their community as they struggle to reconcile faith with identity.

Their story is slow but so evocative and filled with such sad longing. It's both heartfelt and heartbreaking and left me wrecked. "All the World Beside" is a beautiful and worthy read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

See full review on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution website:

Georgia Writers Association director Garrard Conley is the son of a Baptist preacher whose 2016 memoir “Boy Erased” chronicles his parents’ attempt to change his sexual orientation through conversion therapy. It was made into a 2018 movie starring Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe.

Diving into a different aspect of queer Christian suppression, Conley’s debut novel, “All the World Beside,” is an evocative and mystical work of historical fiction that animates a love affair between two men in 18th-century Puritan New England...

https://www.ajc.com/things-to-do/gay-love-in-puritan-new-england-subject-of-garrard-conleys-debut-novel/EEBGRYNODZBTLG46OZRRPAIZT4/

I have to confess I did not read Boy Erased, despite having heard of it. So I did not know exactly what I was walking into with this book. But it was hauntingly beautiful - the tragic love story, the rigidity of Cana, the disruption of the two families - it was exquisitely described and I felt that I was there.

While at times a little slow, which could be more on me than the book itself, it was beautifully written.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Published for providing me with a digital ARC!

In his debut novel, Garrard Conley turns his focus from the oppressive religious reality of his upbringing to a place in history rooted in a similarly narrow set of ideas about the world. Telling an intergenerational story of identity and what it means to push against the confines of society, Conley eschews a straightforward narrative structure and aims for something deeper and more interesting. At certain points, the lack of narrative clarity forced me to push through the lengthy chapters, but always, there is a landing that feels like a satisfying reward. I hope Conley's push into narrative fiction doesn't end here, because this was a fascinating first attempt.

I can appreciate the skill that went into this book, but ultimately I didn’t care enough about any of the people in it to enjoy the story. The prose is beautiful but the long discursions about God and faith made me kind of weary after a while. Ultimately just not really my cup of tea

The Reverend Nathaniel Whitfield and his wife, Catherine, a young woman 13 years his junior, whose mother had urged her “plain” daughter to claim the itinerant preacher or “some whore will,” founded Cana, a utopian community in early 18th century Massachusetts. Cana is the home to Whitfield’s wandering flock, and is established as a place of equality: no servants, no slaves, and (ostensibly) an equal division of labor. A wealthy Boston physician, Arthur Lyman, his wife, Anne, and their pre-teen daughter, Martha, arrive in Cana, and Catherine quietly ponders why an established man like Arthur would come to Cana when the flock was poor and had little to lose. Arthur may retain a “worldly sheen,” but he came to Cana to give up “the wharves and the men and all that came with his previous life. . . .” Ann, who had a good name and a fortune, was aware of her husband’s proclivities and “came to this town because she feared she was already on the cusp of losing it all.” She hoped to foster Arthur’s happiness, but “here she stands, mocked by these townspeople, as distant as ever from her husband.”

Lonely Ann seeks to establish a friendship with the Whitfields, but is unaware that Arthur and Nathaniel were drawn to each other, and that they had a sexual encounter nine months before Nathaniel’s son’s, Ezekiel’s birth, leading Arthur to conclude that Ezekiel was the product of “lust carrying over from one body to the next, uniting them all.” The Whitfield’s daughter, Sarah, spies her father with Arthur and Ezekiel and “[s]he does not understand what she has seen and heard but she knows she was never meant to see or hear it; what she has witnessed here will forever change the course of her life, of all their lives, has already changed it.” Although Cana was born out of Sarah’s parents’ passion — she believes that “something else must have been born just the same with Arthur or perhaps just the opposite, perhaps something has been destroyed.”

Nathaniel and Arthur must grapple with their bewildering feelings and what it means for the pillar of the community to engage in conduct that, as Catherine believes, is “redolent of filth, of dirt, of that Old Testament story of fire and judgment.” In a restrictive society that is only 40 years removed from the hysteria that culminated in the Salem witch trials, they must consider what their love means for themselves and their families and consider whether there is a path forward. A transportive novel that masterfully evokes its puritan New England setting and is a heartbreaking account of a forbidden love. Thank you Riverhead Books and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this vividly imagined historical love story.

A solid historical novel from Garrard Conley. Nathaniel Whitfield, a preacher famous for ‘awakening’ as many as 500 people to God at once, takes 200 of his closest followers to start a village in the New World called Cana. Nathaniel falls in love with the village physician, Arthur Lyman, and struggles with the contradiction between the supposed sin of homosexuality and the rich inner experience he has with Arthur. His family finds out pretty quickly what’s happening, and things go downhill from there. The novel orbits around Nathaniel, Arthur, and Nathaniel’s immediate family: his daughter Sarah, his wife Catherine, and his son Ezekiel; but the point of view switches a lot, and sometimes even within the same scene (something I’m not excited about, generally). The characters are well-wrought and likable, and it’s clear from the note at the end that Conley did a lot of research for the novel. Reminded me in its scope and historicity of Alice Winn’s In Memoriam, probably also because on the surface level both deal with a relationship between queer men at a time when such relationships are forbidden.

This book is an absolute masterpiece, brimming with emotion and beautifully penned prose. The love shared between Arthur and Nathaniel defies the constraints of a time when such love was forbidden, offering a poignant portrayal of their journey and the challenges they face together. Their story, intricately woven with love and strife, resonates deeply, as does the turmoil their families endure alongside them.

By the end, I found myself in tears, deeply moved by the depth of emotion and the richness of the narrative. The meticulous research undertaken to portray this historical period is nothing short of remarkable, shedding light on a facet of queer history often overlooked and marginalized.

A heartfelt thank you to the publisher for providing an advanced reader copy. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone seeking a powerful and enlightening read.

Features:
-Focus on a homosexual relationship between two men living in Puritan New England right before and during The Great Awakening
-An exploration of faith and theology and how it relates to life and identity from a historical perspective.
-The impact that one person’s choices can have on the people around them
-Social ostracization and what it means to ‘belong’ in a community

Whew, I’m not sure what I was expecting going in, but it definitely wasn’t this beautifully difficult tale. Rather than being about the development of the relationship between Nathaniel and Arthur itself, this story focuses a lot more on how their relationship impacts their families and the community of Cana at a time of extreme religious fervor. In addition to exploring the challenges and dangers of a homosexual relationship in Puritan New England, this book explores the roles each character is expected to play by the society they live in and the role religion plays in understanding and challenging these roles. I personally struggled to connect with this book, but I am giving it 5 stars because it is undoubtedly a beautifully written piece that handles its themes exceedingly well. Even if I am not the right audience for it, I think this book will be deeply meaningful in the right hands.

Clever Use of Perspective

Though Nathaniel and Arthur’s relationship is a driving force in the story, surprisingly little of it is shared through their perspectives. In addition to Nathaniel and Arthur, the author uses the perspectives of their immediate family members to tell their tale. As a result, we see a lot of this relationship as outsiders looking in and our understanding of it varies depending on what the character narrating thinks is happening at any given point. While this takes aways some of our connection to the gentlemen’s forbidden love, the use of these perspectives is a brilliant approach that allows us to explore the ripple effects of their clandestine relationship.

What I think makes this book so powerful is that many of the other perspectives through which this story is told belong to women and/or children. These are individuals within Nathaniel and Arthur’s households who already lack a certain amount of agency due to their gender and/or age and are made to make the best out of the circumstances they find themselves in. Not only must they endure and try to understand the way that these men treat them, but they must also live up to the harsh expectations placed on them by Puritan society. Though we want love to prevail for Nathaniel and Arthur, it is hard to fully support them while watching their families fall apart in their wake.

Not for Me?

Though I think this is a powerful, brilliantly written book, it didn’t really resonate with me. There are a couple of reasons I think this might be true. The first is that generally speaking, I don’t tend to enjoy books set in 16th and 17th century Puritan societies. There are a lot of fascinating things about these communities and this historical time period, but for some reason, I really don’t like it as a setting.

The second reason is that though the characters and their perspectives were interesting, I’m not sure I actually liked any of them. They are all complex people living in a complicated and delicate situation. While they reconcile their struggle for physical and social survival with their religious beliefs, it is hard for even the characters themselves to have a true sense of who they are. Where I think Conley achieves what he set out to do with each of these perspectives, I just never resonated with any of them.

Special thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of “All the World Beside” by Garrard Conley. Conley has crafted a novel that is equal parts spellbinding, lyrical, and heartbreaking. When one thinks of the Puritans and the Great Awakening Era, one does not usually associate this movement with that of queer individuals. By developing and interweaving several queer characters together, Conley is able to craft an excellent exploration on what it truly means to be human regardless of who you love or who you choose to express oneself as. Members of the LGBTQIA+ community have been around since the dawn of time and setting the novel in the 1700s was quite possibly the biggest strength of Conley’s novel. While reading this novel, I constantly reflected upon the saying “the sins of the father” and how our parents influence our way of life in more ways than we are formally aware of, yet, we are not hindered by their mistakes. I devoured “All The World Beside” and I cannot wait to see what Garrard Conley churns out next.

I remember reading Conley's Boy Erased and feeling like I would read anything he wrote. This didn't disappoint, but I do have a few points.

4.5 stars rounded up! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC!

All the World Beside is a book about what it means to be Christian, strange, and in charge of a group of people. I loved the characters and I felt for Nathaniel and Arthur. I just wish we could have seen more of their lives without seeing it through the eyes of others around them. Like. We didn't really get a feel for the actual emotions between them, instead we got the physical intimacy and a long talk about the past.

I did love Ezekiel and his plot in this story, but I loved Sarah most of all. Being told all her life she will have to be the woman of the house because her mother is unable to perform the tasks and then doing so, only to be hated by almost everyone. There could be a whole other book based solely on her and her trying to lead a flock when women didn't have a space in leading a congregation.

3.5 stars. Torn about this one. I WAS going to round up to 4 stars - I'll explain why in a moment - but I decided in the end to round down to 3 stars, which represents a solid book, "I liked it."

One of the things I appreciated the most about this book is that it looks at faith and sexuality and gender in a time that seems so removed from our own times and realities, as the book takes place in the early 1700s. Not only that, but the author explores what it might have been like having feelings other than the "norm" and hoping to fulfill those yearnings and desires, in frontier America, far away from large cities or population centers where it might have been more possible to find kindred spirits. The various main characters, male, female, young, and old, are finding their way through these questions, for themselves or because of others, in the context of The Great Awakening, and it was interesting to read a novel that didn't shy away from characters having to reconcile God and theology and "right living" and gender roles with what the world expected good New England folk to believe and follow.

So why round down? I suppose the main reason is that while I was generally engaged throughout the book, and did care for the various characters and their struggles, the book didn't move me as much as I had hoped. I also questioned some of the actions of the the two main father figures in light of the small community in which they lived. But at the end of the day: Kudos to the author for making the restricted and restrictive world of 18th-century North America feel very real, very claustrophobic, and very literally fraught with danger and fear for one's soul and the souls of others.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was everything I was hoping for! Gay literary fiction featuring pilgrims was something I didnt know I needed until I read this book. The pacing and suspense throughout the novel was amazing as well as the ending! Would recommend to a friend!

What a beautiful book. This one was a challenge--I actually laughed a little reading the author's note at the end and seeing Nathaniel Hawthorne mentioned as an influence. I had thought that was the case while reading the book, so if anyone reads this review, be aware that this is not a book you can breeze through. It is dense, thorny, and also worth taking your time with anyway. None of the characters are 'good' in the traditional sense--they are complicated, selfish, and almost unbearably human.

You can tell a lot of thought went into these characters--the end note speaks on gender identity, sexuality, and how those things were complicated considering that, at the time the novel is set, gay people did not exist in the traditional sense. To be sure, we were there, but the boundaries aren't clear cut. They're nebulous, always shifting, and the reader is made to pay attention.

I've left out a lot of my thoughts, since I feel like this book deserves to be read with almost zero expectations. Go in with an open mind and be prepared to think. My thanks to NetGalley for the early copy.