All That Was is a story that explores two different timelines. When Elizabet dies in 1935, she expects her husband to join her but is devastated by the betrayal. Her story is lost within the church for 80 long years. Until it is 2015, when Emily takes up the very same church project, she is tied by the dead woman’s diary. Through the course of novel, we see that both women have so much in common and that the church is their sanctuary