The Gates Ajar is an 1868 religious novel by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
(later Elizabeth Phelps Ward) that was immensely popular following its
publication. It was the second best-selling religious novel of the
19th century. 80,000 copies were sold in America by 1900; 100,000 were
sold in England during the same time period. Sequels Beyond the Gates
(1883) and The Gates Between (1887) were also bestsellers, and the
three together are referred to as the author's "Spiritualist
novels."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
women. The novel represents heaven as being similar to Earth (but
better). In contrast with traditions of Calvinism, Phelps's version of
heaven is corporeal where the dead have "spiritual bodies", live in
houses, raise families, and participate in various activities. The
idea was not original to Phelps; at least one earlier book, the
anonymous Heaven Our Home, was advertising as early as 1863 about its
vision of "a Social Heaven in which there will be the most Perfect
Recognition, Intercourse, Fellowship, and Bliss.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 anyoneâ€"acquaintances, the
church deacon, or pastor. She is losing her religious faith and
increasingly despairs. She eventually turns to Winifred Forceythe, her
widowed aunt who fortuitously arrives from Kansas with her daughter,
Faith. Over the course of their conversations, Winifred offers an
inspiring image of heaven and gradually restores her niece's faith.
Winifred Forceythe dies, leaving Mary Cabot as guardian of her cousin,
Faith. Mary has again found meaning in life and her outlook is
joyful.Phelps began writing The Gates Ajar in the final year of the
American Civil War, inspired in part by the death of her mother,
stepmother, and her fiancé who was killed at the Battle of Antietam.
Phelps later claimed the book came from divine inspiration: "The angel
said unto me 'Write!' and I wrote." She spent two years revising the
book in her father's attic. Frustrated by the insignificant role women
played during the War, she wrote the book specifically with a female
audience in mind. In an autobiography, she reflected, "Into that great
world of woe my little book stole forth, trembling... I do not think I
thought so much about the suffering of men... but the women,â€"the
helpless, outnumbering, unconsulted women." Emily Dickinson, according
to scholar Barton Levi St. Armand, was among those who believed in a
similar vision of the afterlife and found the book helpful in
organizing those thoughts. The Gates Ajar Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter