schoenecker

Set in New York and Washington City, Four Summers Waiting weaves a Civil War epic that emerges as a love story.Maria Onderdonk, daughter of a prominent Long Island widower, steps out of a dutiful-daughter role after a year of family mourning. Her best friend, Carolyn involves her in an Abolitionist Society meeting where Maria meets Henry Simms. Henry is a medical college student hlping slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Henry courts Maria through letters until he is about to open a medical practice and the War of the Rebellion begins.
Maria and Carolyn's friendship is shaped and strengthened by wartime challenges. Carolyn enrolls in nurse training, a career almost unheard of in Victorian society. Maria yearns to help the Union cause, especially after Henry volunteers as a Union contract surgeon. She struggles to balance her sentiments with her father's opposition to the war. Maria's diary and Henry and Maria's letters become a chronicle of their love as they are caught up in events of the war. Determined to find a way to help the causes she believes in Maria follows her heart, and Henry to Washington, never imagining death and terror await her in that war-torn city.