Book dossier

The gates ajar

by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

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 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.