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Without Him: Two Brothers, Two Divergent Paths, One Unbreakable Bond
From the acclaimed author of The Orphan from Shepherds Keep comes a new exploration of love's most enduring forms.
Brighton and Baéz are half-brothers forever bound by a single impossible one plunges through the frozen surface of Lake Aspetuck, and the other risks everything to pull him back to the light. That miraculous rescue echoes across thirty years as the two men take vastly different paths through love, war, fame, and spiritual awakening.
Brighton Bethune becomes a global tennis champion, Army Ranger, celebrated film actor, a man who conquers the world's stages while struggling to survive its cost. Baéz Honor, shaped by the spiritual wisdom of their prophetic grandmother Nonnie, follows a quieter path, tending to a mysterious gift of healing first awakened beneath that frozen lake. Together, they face sports corruption, the seductions of fame, the wounds of war, and the slow unraveling of a world they were raised to trust.
What holds them together is not obligation, but something the same stubborn, imperfect devotion that readers fell in love with in The Orphan from Shepherds Keep. Lindsay once again finds the sacred in the bonds between men and proves that love, whether romantic or brotherly, is the one thing worth surviving for.
Without Him is sweeping and intimate, epic and deeply personal. It is a novel about what men owe each other, and what they cannot live without.
Brighton and Baéz are half-brothers forever bound by a single impossible one plunges through the frozen surface of Lake Aspetuck, and the other risks everything to pull him back to the light. That miraculous rescue echoes across thirty years as the two men take vastly different paths through love, war, fame, and spiritual awakening.
Brighton Bethune becomes a global tennis champion, Army Ranger, celebrated film actor, a man who conquers the world's stages while struggling to survive its cost. Baéz Honor, shaped by the spiritual wisdom of their prophetic grandmother Nonnie, follows a quieter path, tending to a mysterious gift of healing first awakened beneath that frozen lake. Together, they face sports corruption, the seductions of fame, the wounds of war, and the slow unraveling of a world they were raised to trust.
What holds them together is not obligation, but something the same stubborn, imperfect devotion that readers fell in love with in The Orphan from Shepherds Keep. Lindsay once again finds the sacred in the bonds between men and proves that love, whether romantic or brotherly, is the one thing worth surviving for.
Without Him is sweeping and intimate, epic and deeply personal. It is a novel about what men owe each other, and what they cannot live without.
312 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 21, 2025
About the author
Lindsay Law
3 books9 followersLindsay Law has produced scores of television plays and dozens of films, in addition to a pair of productions on Broadway. Many of these works have been nominated for Emmys, Tonys, and Oscars. He was the Executive Producer for the PBS drama series, AMERICAN PLAYHOUSE, from 1981 to 1995. He was the President of Fox Searchlight Pictures from 1995 to 2000. He lives in Litchfield County, Connecticut.
If you enjoyed this book and the time you spent with these characters, help spread the word on-line, at your local bookshop, and directly with your friends. The author would enjoy hearing about your experience while reading this book and invites you to ask any questions you may have about this story and his story.
If you enjoyed this book and the time you spent with these characters, help spread the word on-line, at your local bookshop, and directly with your friends. The author would enjoy hearing about your experience while reading this book and invites you to ask any questions you may have about this story and his story.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 12, 2025
Lindsay Law's latest novel, “Without Him,” is a sprawling novel spanning 30 years in the lives of two brothers where devotion, loyalty, and the bonds of friendship and family are tested. The story delves into themes of fate, family, and faith weaving competitive sports, advertising, war and military service, fame and the film industry, together with notions spirituality that range from faith healing to commercialized religion. With a distinguished career in theater, television, and motion pictures, Law brings to the page a master’s instinct for story. His novels, with a Dickensian sweep, cover the landscape of human endeavor, revealing the fractures and fragility of the spirit, with a mediation on the nature of understanding and acceptance.
His first novel, “The Orphan from Shepherd’s Keep” focused on gay identity within a context of art and religion. Same-sex attraction and familial love again underpin the story but here spirituality becomes a key theme. Ties that bind and the presence of flawed fathers link both novels.
Traumatic childhood incidents set both stories in motion. “Without Him” opens with an incident that will affect both their futures in far different ways. Baéz Honor having fallen through the ice in a raging snowstorm is brought back to life by his half-brother Brighton Bethune who pulls him from the icy waters and administers the breath of life. Considering his time under the ice, it is a near miracle of recovery. Baéz is deeply influenced by his grandmother, Nonnie, a healer with ultimate faith in the power of God to heal wounds both physical and spiritual. The miracle of the rescue deepens Baéz’s faith in the power of God and leads him to a spiritual calling.
Brighton, gifted with beauty and exceptional athleticism, takes a far different path. Still, Nonnie’s faith and encouragement during a key tennis match will see him to becoming a renowned tennis champion. In military service where he excels as a leader in a questionable war. Captured and tortured, in a grueling scene, he recovers and like a modern day Audie Murphy, becomes a motion picture celebrity.
Baéz, meanwhile has developed a successful religious calling, and is comfortable with himself as a gay man. Brighton’s conflicts, however, will mount. He suffers addictions as the result of war wounds. His sudden notoriety, accomplishments that have garnered public acclaim become sources of internal conflict. There is, of course, far more to the story, but at its heart lie sacrifice and self-discovery— that unfolds in swift, unexpected turns that keep the reader off balance and enthralled.
His first novel, “The Orphan from Shepherd’s Keep” focused on gay identity within a context of art and religion. Same-sex attraction and familial love again underpin the story but here spirituality becomes a key theme. Ties that bind and the presence of flawed fathers link both novels.
Traumatic childhood incidents set both stories in motion. “Without Him” opens with an incident that will affect both their futures in far different ways. Baéz Honor having fallen through the ice in a raging snowstorm is brought back to life by his half-brother Brighton Bethune who pulls him from the icy waters and administers the breath of life. Considering his time under the ice, it is a near miracle of recovery. Baéz is deeply influenced by his grandmother, Nonnie, a healer with ultimate faith in the power of God to heal wounds both physical and spiritual. The miracle of the rescue deepens Baéz’s faith in the power of God and leads him to a spiritual calling.
Brighton, gifted with beauty and exceptional athleticism, takes a far different path. Still, Nonnie’s faith and encouragement during a key tennis match will see him to becoming a renowned tennis champion. In military service where he excels as a leader in a questionable war. Captured and tortured, in a grueling scene, he recovers and like a modern day Audie Murphy, becomes a motion picture celebrity.
Baéz, meanwhile has developed a successful religious calling, and is comfortable with himself as a gay man. Brighton’s conflicts, however, will mount. He suffers addictions as the result of war wounds. His sudden notoriety, accomplishments that have garnered public acclaim become sources of internal conflict. There is, of course, far more to the story, but at its heart lie sacrifice and self-discovery— that unfolds in swift, unexpected turns that keep the reader off balance and enthralled.
September 22, 2026
Half brothers and their divergent paths.Highly recommended
Brighton. Outgoing loving brave talented.
Baez. Quiet, unassuming loving.
The brothers are constant companions until college.
As children, Brighton saves Baez’s life. Fascinating,
Brighton. Outgoing loving brave talented.
Baez. Quiet, unassuming loving.
The brothers are constant companions until college.
As children, Brighton saves Baez’s life. Fascinating,
March 30, 2026
I met him years ago when he was a gifted producer at PBS and was curious to see what kind of novelist he was. I was impressed. The characters were rich and the story was fascinating.
May 20, 2026
I wish I was as good as this writer so I can write an amazing review! Loved every page of this book and will cherish it always!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews