Through These Dark Gates by Brooklyn K. Biegel

1845. Chased by the demons of his past, John Dallington flees the coast of his Irish homeland in hopes of silencing the throes of his conscience and reconciling the guilt of his past by creating a new life on the American continent. But when the death of his wife leaves his heart and faith shipwrecked, he doubts whether God’s eyes see the pain inside his soul, and he sets out to create the mask that will hide the identity that links him to everything he once loved.

1851. Innocent, lonely, and craving to be cherished, eleven-year-old orphan Kate Fletcher attends her First Communion service with a heart full of trepidation and awe - she knows that when she grows up she must be pleasing to God and to his Church, and she will do so by devoting her life to becoming a Sister of Mercy. But when the time of Final Vows arrives, she finds herself questioning both God and the Church when her predictable future is suddenly overturned by an unexpected request for service.

Set against the backdrop of the nineteenth-century Irish immigration movement and the American Civil War, this fascinating story follows the lives of Kate and John as they collide amidst the turmoil and treachery of a war-torn Washington, DC, where they both are forced to grapple with questions about their pasts, their choices, and the will of God.