Forgiven: The Amish School Shooting, A Mother's Love, and A Story of Remarkable Grace is written by Terri Roberts, the mother of the Amish School house shooter. In October of 2006 Charlie Roberts went into an Amish School house and shot 10 young girls, killing five and also killed himself.

Most people are very familiar with this story. You may remember hearing about it on the news when it happened, or read a book about it or even seen the movie. Maybe you're like me and all of the above apply to you. I was pretty sure I knew all there was to know about this heart wrenching event, but this book takes you too a more personal level. Written by the shooters mother, Terri shares insight into the shooters life as a child and the story told from her eyes. There are sections that Amish have contributed and I really enjoyed those first hand stories as well.

This is a story about forgiveness. It is a story about love. Forgiveness is sometimes a journey and it is not always easy, but without forgiveness one cannot heal.

I can't imagine being the mother of someone who committed such a crime. I admire Terri Robert's bravery in writing this book and sharing her story. It is very well written and pulls at the heart strings of the reader. There is much to learn about forgiveness within the pages of this book and I believe that the reader will learn so much about God's love within the pages.

***Thanks to Bethany House Publishing for providing me with this book in exchange for my review.

Recently I was given the opportunity to review the book Forgiven: The Amish School Shooting, a Mother’s Love, and a Story of Remarkable Grace.

Cover of the book
Cover of the book



This is a true story, dealing with the shooting that happened in October of 2006 at an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania. On that day, a man entered the school, shooting ten young girls. Five of those girls passed away and the shooter also ended up taking his own life. Many people most likely recall the story, at least to some extent. This story is related from the point of view of the shooter’s mother.

At times, it is a difficult read, emotionally as you experience Roberts’ pain over the loss of her son, and also dealing with the horrible thing that he had done. However, the story is a one of hope and God’s grace. Terri takes us back to the beginning, when her son was born and leads us up to the day of horrible event. She takes us through her journey with her own health problems and how she formed a lasting connection with the very Amish families that were affected by what her son had done.

This is definitely a book to pick up. We don’t often hear the story from this perspective, as many times only the direct victims voices are put out to the media.

forgiven back

I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House for the purpose of this review.