AMISH GRACE

On a fall day in 2006, the tranquility of a small community was shattered by an unimaginable crime. While the tragedy polarized the country, it would also reveal a unique perspective on life and death, and offer an unexpected lesson in forgiveness…

It began as a day not out of the ordinary for Ida and Gideon Graber and the rest of their traditional Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. As with every morning, they saw their daughters, nine-year-old Katie and bright and ambitious fourteen-year-old Mary Beth, off to school. Before the day was over, Charlie Roberts, a husband and father from outside the community, stormed Nickel Mines’ one-room schoolhouse and opened fire on the students, killing five of them—including Mary Beth Graber. Charlie, a grieving father, had nursed his private pain into uncontrollable, unconscionable rage, and then taken his own life.

As the media descends and the country reacts in anger, the Amish respond with uncommon patience, offering absolution to the killer, and empathetic support to his widow, Amy. In Nickel Mines, only Ida Graber stands alone in her refusal to forgive, unable to understand even her own husband’s path of righteousness. Her decision is to leave the Amish life and join her sister Ellen, a woman shunned years ago for abandoning the faith, in the outside world. But Ida’s personal journey has only just begun—it’s one that will enlighten her own search for peace as she rediscovers the transcending power of forgiveness in the shadow of overwhelming grief.

Based on the critically acclaimed book, Amish Grace is a gripping true account of a national tragedy and a heartening glimpse into an inspiring, misunderstood, and enlightening subculture of America.