Charlotte Waverly wants to make more of a difference to the Civil war effort than knitting socks in her living room. While her mother, sister and beau frown on her pursuits, she trains with the Sanitary Commission—the predecessor to the Red Cross—and puts her faith and compassionate heart to work for wounded soldiers. Conditions are miserable with few supplies, little room and male doctors who feel women belong in the home. But Charlotte perseveres, doing her best to improve conditions and the lives of those she nurses.

Green introduces other characters as well from Charlotte's sister, Alice, who accompanies her, more to follow her husband to war than to actively pursue nursing. Caleb, a doctor who helped Charlotte during her father's illness and after his death, makes an appearance and may give her beau a run for his money. There's also more to her beau than she knows and much of it not good, but will she figure out who is who in time?

We also meet Ruby, an Irish immigrant who lives in Five Points, an area of Manhattan with a reputation as the worst of the worst. Ruby's experiences mirror what many Irish people faced: not having enough to eat, working hard for little pay and turning to prostitution to survive.

Green weaves these storylines together well and has clearly done intensive research to bring to life this period of time as well as New York and Washington to where the cities themselves have personalities. My one quibble with the book is the plot didn't have a lot to it. At times, it seemed like the plot existed to support historical material rather than the other way around.

I must also say that I didn't realize this was a Christian novel when I opted to review it, and I might not have ordered it had I known. That said, while it included Bible verses and the characters' faith and belief in God, it didn't try to push those beliefs onto the reader.