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Real People, Messy, Joyful People
How Do You Live Without Love? follows a widowed pastor who, while trying to revive a divided and declining church, must confront his grief and learn that loving others doesn’t mean he can save them. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The trope of the protagonist entering a new job, new town, etc is well-worn. I had just abandoned another writing project (and grieved over its death) when I literally “brainstormed” what I wanted to write. I wanted to write about real people, messy, joyful people who fail on a regular basis, or whose victories are tempered in some way, yet they find the courage, stubbornness, and love to get out of bed the next day and do it all over again.
I literally chose a pastor because everywhere you go in this country – there’s a pastor.
How did you balance the novel’s humor and conversational dialogue with subjects such as suicide, racism, homophobia, and bereavement?
Truly, these are not subjects of humor! But life is funny, and sometimes you have to just laugh to keep from crying.
Wesley often helps people through practical acts of kindness rather than sermons. What did you want this contrast to communicate about faith and ministry?
Jesus said to feed the poor. He did not say to preach at them or love them until they no longer hunger.
Which supporting character surprised you most during the writing process, and how did that character’s role evolve?
There are currently 8 books in this series. Character development is ongoing. My initial response was “Matthew.” Early in Book 2, he amazed me with his insight and his uncompromising love. But Lucky (the true star of the series) is so much more than what is revealed in the first book. Though hints are there.
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When a teenager dies by suicide and her mother’s humiliation explodes online, Rosa Lee becomes a magnet for cameras and contempt. Wesley, barely a pastor and twice a stranger to mercy, steps into the storm—counseling teens, calming old ladies, cutting the grass, answering crisis hotline calls—trying to make faith look like rescue instead of rhetoric.
As the church’s finances and patience run out, a vote looms: keep the earnest, flawed pastor or replace him with steadier hands. But when the outside world shows up with microphones and accusations. Wesley’s choices become literal life or death. Can a man who still blames himself for his family’s deaths save strangers—and in doing so, finally forgive himself? This is a story about grief, messy grace, and the small acts that sometimes hold a town together.
How Do You Live Without Love?
How Do You Live Without Love?, the first volume in Anthony Bradshaw’s Dying Church series, follows Wesley Aames, a widowed pastor beginning a new assignment at New Covenant Methodist Church in Asheville. The congregation is aging, financially strained, and tangled in internal politics, while Wesley is still grieving the deaths of his wife and carrying guilt over his distant relationship with his daughter. What begins as a story about reviving a church gradually becomes a broader exploration of loneliness, suicide, community, and the emotional cost of believing you should be able to save everyone.
Wesley is the center of the novel, and his combination of humor, compassion, impulsiveness, and unresolved sorrow makes him easy to care about. He forms relationships with teenagers, elderly church members, troubled families, a wounded dog, and several people living at the edges of the community. These encounters give the book its warmth. Small acts such as sharing food, repairing a porch, listening to a frightened caller, or sitting beside someone in grief often matter more than Wesley’s sermons. The large cast can take some time to sort out, but many of the supporting characters develop distinct personalities and create the sense of a town where everybody’s life touches somebody else’s.
Bradshaw writes in a direct, accessible style that mixes serious subjects with teasing dialogue, church gossip, food, music, and Wesley’s frequently sarcastic inner commentary. The humor keeps the novel conversational even when the story deals with suicide, racism, homophobia, religious conflict, and bereavement. At times, the repeated jokes and extended conversations slow the pacing, and some conflicts are drawn in broad strokes. Still, the emotional through line remains strong because Wesley’s struggle is personal. He wants to lead with love, but he has to learn that love doesn’t give him control over what other people choose or protect him from failure.
I’d recommend this book most to readers who enjoy character-driven Christian fiction, small-town stories, and novels about imperfect people building community through practical kindness. It should also appeal to readers interested in the everyday work of ministry, especially the complicated space between faith, institutional politics, and human need. The ending provides a dramatic climax while leaving Wesley’s healing unfinished, which fits the opening volume of a series. More than anything, the novel presents love as a daily responsibility: listening, feeding, forgiving, showing up, and continuing to care even when the outcome can’t be guaranteed.
Pages: 280 | ASIN: B0FKSSCMV8
