
All the World Beside
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Pete Cross
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Garrard Conley
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By:
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Garrard Conley
About this listen
“A heart-wrenching story of love, family, and spirituality.”—People Magazine
From the New York Times bestselling author of Boy Erased, an electrifying, deeply moving novel about the love story between two men in Puritan New England.
Cana, Massachusetts: a utopian vision of 18th-century Puritan New England. To the outside world, Reverend Nathaniel Whitfield and his family stand as godly pillars of their small-town community, drawing Christians from across the New World into their fold. One such Christian, physician Arthur Lyman, discovers in the minister’s words a love so captivating it transcends language.
As the bond between these two men grows more and more passionate, their families must contend with a tangled web of secrets, lies, and judgments which threaten to destroy them in this world and the next. And when the religious ecstasies of the Great Awakening begin to take hold, igniting a new era of zealotry, Nathaniel and Arthur search for a path out of an impossible situation, imagining a future for themselves which has no name. Their wives and children must do the same, looking beyond the known world for a new kind of wilderness, both physical and spiritual.
Set during the turbulent historical upheavals which shaped America’s destiny and following in the tradition of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, All the World Beside reveals the very human lives just beneath the surface of dogmatic belief. Bestselling author Garrard Conley has created a thrilling, vividly imagined historical tale that is both a love story and a crucible.
©2024 Garrard Conley (P)2024 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Affecting… Conley joins a cadre of literary writers—Daniel Mason and Lauren Groff among them—who look backward to make sense of present-day conflicts.”—The Washington Post
“An evocative and mystical work of historical fiction that animates a love affair between two men in 18th-century Puritan New England… A contemplative depiction of the endurance required to survive religious intolerance that is probing, redemptive and brimming with compassion for the human race.”—Atlanta Journal Constitution
“A gorgeous, spellbinding work of historical fiction that conjures up a society wrestling with faith, love, and a sense of belonging. It is a heartbreaking account of forbidden passions and lost innocence told with intimate, lyrical beauty. It is truly sublime. I loved it.”—Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo
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Johnnie Rico never really intended to join up—and definitely not the infantry. But now that he’s in the thick of it, trying to get through combat training harder than anything he could have imagined, he knows everyone in his unit is one bad move away from buying the farm in the interstellar war the Terran Federation is waging against the Arachnids. Because everyone in the Mobile Infantry fights. And if the training doesn’t kill you, the Bugs are more than ready to finish the job.
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The definitive version!
- By Kristopher G. Hesson on 10-03-24
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Say No More
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- Original Recording
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Who is Audrey Hoedemaker? It's a question her sister Maureen has heard more times than she can count, and she doesn't know what the short answer would be. Little sister, troubled teen, backpacker, musical theatre coach, con artist, childcare worker. Murderer. A tragic, traumatic childhood casts a long shadow on the Hoedemaker sisters. Maureen has worked hard to move beyond the violence of the past and build a good, honest life for herself. Audrey, however, just can't seem to do the same, careening from one state of chaos to another.
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Seriously, that was the ending?
- By alicia in athens on 02-13-25
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Well researched and throughly amazing
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A mother and father set out with their two children, a boy and a girl, driving from New York to Arizona in the heat of summer. Their destination: Apacheria, the place the Apaches once called home. Why Apaches? asks the 10-year-old son. Because they were the last of something,answers his father. In their car, they play games and sing along to music. But on the radio, there is news about an "immigration crisis": thousands of kids trying to cross the Southwestern border into the US but getting detained - or lost in the desert along the way.
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Ground Control to Major Tom
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What listeners say about All the World Beside
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- JAH
- 01-23-25
The dreariness of this world.,.
While Conley certainly captures the style and tone of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, it is tiresome as every character is unhappy, lost or inexplicably mute. While the writer brings Puritanical America to life, it is a slog. Even the minimal sex scenes are slight in description and offer seemingly little joy to the participants. As a product of an evangelical upbringing, I wanted to like this book but I found myself just waiting to get to the end. The talk Garrad Conley gives at the end regarding his intention and research is the most interesting part of the novel.
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- Atldeuce
- 07-16-24
Interesting historical gay perspective
Unusual story. Good character portrayals but a bit too long. As if Nathanial Hawthorne had written The Boys In The Band.
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- Aly
- 04-02-24
a must read for the parents of gay children
the style of writing feels historic and something that could have been written decades ago. something that should be part of our historic education.
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- Anonymous User
- 05-19-24
an exploration of American Puritians and queer fols during the perod
Good story. well crafted. A period of America that is one of tge roots of bigotry.
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- Swellguy22
- 04-20-24
Couldn't listen to any more preaching!
My fault for following the impressions of someone on Instagram. Lesson learnt. According to this persons review, the book was so fascinating that he couldn't put it down until he read all of it. Drama and romance were his words. No mention of the faith and religious background essential to the character's dilemmas. Had I known this was the central conflict to the story, I would have passed. Given the author's previous book I assumed that this may stray from his religious upbringing and offer an entire new idea. The torment brought about by the character's own religious upbringing has been done countless times and this story doesn't offer anything new in that respect. I just couldn't hear any more preaching, I wanted to scream!!! I can't any longer read the Christian words as inoffensive and non threatening given the amount of damage done to people like the same characters from this book. At the same time, I don't need to be reminded over and over about them. Not a book for agnostics or atheists for sure!
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1 person found this helpful
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- corey edwards
- 04-12-24
Story line was boring.
The story really didn’t flow well at all. I was bored out of my mind.
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