In the Beauty of the Lilies: A NovelIn the Beauty of the Lilies begins in 1910 and traces God’s relation to four generations of American seekers, beginning with Clarence Wilmot, a clergyman in Paterson, New Jersey. He loses his faith but finds solace at the movies, respite from “the bleak facts of life, his life, gutted by God’s withdrawal.” His son, Teddy, becomes a mailman who retreats from American exceptionalism, religious and otherwise, into a life of studied ordinariness. Teddy has a daughter, Esther, who becomes a movie star, an object of worship, an All-American goddess. Her neglected son, Clark, is possessed of a native Christian fervor that brings the story full circle: in the late 1980s he joins a Colorado sect called the Temple, a handful of “God’s elect” hastening the day of reckoning. In following the Wilmots’ collective search for transcendence, John Updike pulls one wandering thread from the tapestry of the American Century and writes perhaps the greatest of his later novels. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Alma Arnie asked Aunt Esther Basingstoke Benjy blue body brother called church Clarence Clark color Daddy Danny dark Deanna Durbin dear Dearholt Delaware door Doug Emily Esau Essie Essie's eyes face faith father feel felt film George Sanders girl glass greenhouse hair hand Harry Cohn head hear Hollywood Horley Jared Jesse Jesse's John Updike keep kids kitchen knew laugh lifted light lips lived looked Lost Horizon Mavis Momma mother mouth moved movie never night Olivia de Havilland Paterson Patrick play Presbyterian Rodney Street seemed showed side Sifford Sissy Spacek skin Slick smile smoke sound stars Stella Street talk Teddy tell Temple there's things thought throat told took town trying turned Uncle voice walked Wilmot window woman women young Zebulun