An Unseen Angel: A Mother's Story of Faith, Hope, and Healing After Sandy Hook - Paperback

by Alissa Parker (Author)

As the mother of one of the children who died at Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, Alissa Parker had her world shattered by a mass murderer's rampage. She was left to make sense of her daughter's life and death and to rebuild, seeking a deeply spiritual path to carry on with her life and find new meaning and purpose.

As a co-founder of SafeandSoundSchools.org, a touring national advocacy group that helps people take action to make schools safer, Alissa has talked to hundreds of parents around the country about her ordeal and how she was able to endure the unspeakable horror of Sandy Hook.

An Unseen Angel takes readers though Alissa's complete journey, chronicling the moment-by-moment account of the day that began with every parent's worst nightmare: hearing, "There's been a shooting at your child's school." It follows her faith-filled spiritual path to coping, healing, forgiving, and eventually feeling gratitude for the life and love of her daughter Emilie. She describes a bond of love between a mother and daughter that is so profound it transcends the physical body and touches Alissa and the people who loved Emilie who feel her presence every day. And she articulates her deep Christian faith, which guided the answers to Alissa's gut-wrenching, post-tragedy questioning:

• "Where is Emilie now?"
• "Can love transcend the physical body?"
• "How can I know that Emilie is in a better place?"
• "How do I deal with the 'here and now' when the pain and anger I feel is so overwhelming?"

This is the first book about the school-shooting tragedies with a focus on faith and spirituality. As we learn Alissa's story, we are introduced to a special little girl who was wise beyond her years and whose lessons about life and the transcendent power of love continued even after she had passed away.

Author Biography

Alissa Parker is the mother of one of the twenty children who died tragically in the Sandy Hook school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.

After Emilie's death, Alissa began TheParkerFive blog as a tool to express the emotions she and her family experienced throughout the grieving process. She is also the co-founder of SafeandSoundSchools.org, which helps people take action to make schools safer, and The Emilie Parker Art Connection, a charity helping local community art programs for children.

• The Parker Five Blog (theparkerfive.com): 3.5 million p/v; Visitors: 922,689
• The Emilie Parker Art Connection (emilieparkerfund.com): 297K Facebook followers
• Safe and Sound Schools (safeandsoundschools.org): Since 2013, 200K+ visitors to the website, 100K people have downloaded free online materials for use in their school or professional community, more than 30,000 people have attended a speaking engagement or workshop, 6K+ social media followers. Organization has also visited schools in 31 states.