Beneficence

“If the word ‘luminous’ didn’t already exist, you’d have to invent it to describe Meredith Hall’s radiant new novel.”—Richard Russo

A family must overcome heartbreak to reclaim goodness and peace in their lives. Reviewers and readers have called this a “hauntingly beautiful” novel, “hard to put down,” “a page-turner and an artistic triumph,” “a masterpiece of compassion.” Written by a masterful storyteller, this is a book that illuminates the journey we make through loss to healing.

In the midst of a nearly perfect life, Doris Senter is thankful but wary. “We can’t ever know what will come,” she says. When an unimaginable tragedy turns the family of five into a family of four, everything the Senters held faith in is shattered. The family is consumed by sorrow and guilt. Slowly, the surviving family members find their way to forgiveness—of themselves and of each other.

Few writers know the human heart and the burden of grief as New York Times bestselling author Meredith Hall (Without a Map). This is a radiant novel of goodness and love—both its gifts and its obligations—that will stay with readers long after the last page. With a rare tenderness and compassion, Beneficence shows broken hearts becoming whole as this family reclaims their love and peace.

Here’s what people are saying...

“This book will stay with me; I will cherish it.” —Christina Baker Kline

“I stand in awe of Meredith Hall and the poetry, honesty, and tenderness of her storytelling.” —Joyce Maynard

“One of the best books I've ever read.” —Simon Van Booy

“A modern American masterpiece.” —Dani Shapiro

“As quiet and as profound as the ocean’s depths. The book glitters.” —Geraldine Brooks

"Meredith Hall is so patient and tender… Beneficence is magnificent in its intimacy." —Stewart O’Nan

“Austere and luminous…with moments of electrifying beauty and grace.” —Boston Globe

“These voices from the past speak so clearly to our time, at a moment when many of us wonder whether we’ll lose the things that we consider blessings....Beneficence is a quiet but steady book, one that echoes ancient and important rhythms.” —Washington Post

“As organically as it traveled to heartbreak, Beneficence progresses to the place of wisdom that lies beyond it, where we learn that a home is part of the ‘vast world of innocence and harm,’ not an island beyond it.” —Wall Street Journal

“A quiet gem...hard to put down.” —Library Journal

“Hauntingly beautiful, emotionally devastating, and infused with great compassion.” —Kim Barnes

“With wisdom and compassion, Meredith Hall writes about the capacity for atonement. Goodness. Generosity to see deeply, to live through fear and pain on your journey toward the awareness of splendor.” —Ursula Hegi

MORE CRITICAL PRAISE

“Beneficence is a glorious book, its joy as quietly beautiful as the tragedy at its center echoes loudly through the lives of its characters. Hall acknowledges that each life is very small, on its own, but that the love we each bear for one another is immense, our capacity for it endless.” —Maine Sunday Telegram

“Powerful…Hall's meticulous prose convincingly captures the daily realities—sometimes beautiful, sometimes cruel—of agricultural life, and offers insight into the ways calamity fractures family bonds...readers will be rewarded.” —Publishers Weekly

 “A quiet gem of a first novel. The author's lyrical prose and stark portrayal of grief and guilt…is conveyed so movingly this story is hard to put down. With language poetic in its cadence and capable of seamlessly transporting our minds and emotions to another place and time, this accomplished debut will be welcomed by readers of authors such as Willa Cather, Alice Munro, Amy Tan, or Lisa See.” —Library Journal

“Beneficence is a novel that considers grief, forgiveness, family, work, and love. Reminiscent of Wendell Berry and Marilynne Robinson, Hall’s writing is truly beautiful. We highly recommend you add Beneficence to your autumn reading list.” —Literary North

“This is a special book… It is a story that lingers, and one that will remain with me for the remainder of my time in this world.” —Rick Heller, Bangor Daily News

“Beneficence tells the story of the family’s grace, fall from grace, and restoration to a state of grace more complicated than the first. . .one of the most beautiful, haunting novels.” —Today’s American Catholic

“A powerful story of love and loss and endurance… Remind[s] all readers that love, memories and stories, and indeed language itself, can have transcendent, radiant, beneficent power—even over death.”—New York Journal of Books —New York Journal of Books

“[A] delicate, poignant novel…Spare but decked with moments of crystalline beauty, the book’s descriptions of farming the Maine countryside are authentic and enchanting. There are no ostentatious displays, and so the novel’s magnificence sneaks up in the same unassuming way that autumn sunlight spills across harvested fields, that sound breaks the silence of a heavy snow, and that the hidden barbs of loss present themselves across the years…[A] gorgeous and moving new novel.” —Foreword Reviews (Starred Review)

“Beneficence is a novel that lingers, tucking details into its heavy folds…The weight of ache and grace that anchors [Hall’s] writing is still firmly lodged.” —The Arts Fuse

“With lyrical precision, Hall dissects how grief reshapes each [family] member and pushes them into newfound territory. The result is a profoundly moving family saga that provides an engrossing reading experience.” —Public Libraries Online

“Beneficence is one of the best novels I’ve read all year, the perfect antidote to troubled times, beautifully composed and lyrically told. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.” —Manhattan Book Review 

“An impressively skilled storyteller, Meredith Hall has produced the kind of novel that will linger in the mind and memory of the reader long after the book itself has been finished.” —Midwest Book Review