This Book Will Make You Ugly Cry

I first discovered Garrard Conley through his bestselling memoir Boy Erased, which was made into a movie starring Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. Boy Erased follows his experience when his parents learn that he’s gay and send him to conversion therapy. Now Conley is back, but this time with his debut novel.

All the World Beside follows two men, minister Nathaniel Whitfield and physician Arthur Lyman, living in Puritan New England in the early 18th century. When Nathaniel and Arthur begin their affair, they never expected their relationship to turn into an all-encompassing force that consumes them and their families.

Nathaniel is a preacher from England who has created his own community in the new world that he calls Cana. There, he and his followers wait for an “Awakening” that will prove that their community is truly blessed by God, that they have found the one true way, that they are chosen by God.

Conley delves into ideas around faith and belief, and what it means to truly believe in the love of God, but you don’t have to be a Christian or even a person of any faith to appreciate the multiple layers that Conley weaves into this novel. The universal ideas of love and connection in the face of a ridiculous number of obstacles make this novel accessible to just about any kind of reader.

Pete Cross performs the audiobook edition of the novel, creating this quiet, intimate sort of listening experience that makes you feel as if you are right there, part of the community watching Nathaniel and Arthur risk everything for their relationship.