Reconstructed from actual letters and diaries, this is the story of four young people living in Philadelphia whose lives become intertwined when the American Civil War begins in 1861. Jan is a German immigrant who begins his studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg. Emma is a Quaker who has learned survival skills growing up in a thick forest. Gabrielle, is a Southerner, was raised by her governess and wealthy Virginian father. Maura travels alone to America from Ireland to escape the potato famine and eventually enters the convent as a Sister of Mercy. Each girl grows up separated from her mother either through a natural or man-made disaster, and each is destined to choose nursing as a career. Many women served as trained nurses in both the Union and Confederate Armies caring for wounded soldiers without preference for which side they fought. It is a little-known fact that many of the nurses working to save lives following the Battle of Gettysburg were Catholic nuns from the orders of Sisters of Mercy and Daughters of Charity. This is not a book about war: it is a story about love of God, love of family and friends, and love of country.
