The Gates Ajar

"The Gates Ajar" by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps is a religious novel. Mary Cabot of Homer, Massachusetts, has recently been notified of Royal Cabot's death, the brother to whom she is intensely devoted. He was a soldier "shot dead" in the American Civil War. Their parents are deceased, and Mary is unable to find sympathy and relief from anyone –acquaintances, the church deacon, or the pastor. Losing her religious faith, she increasingly despairs. Eventually, she turns to Winifred Forceythe, her widowed aunt who arrives from Kansas with her daughter, Faith.