The gates ajar

The Gates Ajar is a religious novel by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (later Elizabeth Phelps Ward) that was immensely popular following its publication and was the second best-selling religious novel of the 19th century. The novel is presented like a diary by its main protagonist, Mary Cabot, who mourns the death of her brother Royal. Much of the plot is presented as a dialogue about the afterlife between the two characters. The novel represents heaven as being similar to Earth, but better. In contras...