The Rising: Murder Heartbreak and the Power of Human Resilience in an American Town

About this book

The astonishing story of one mans recovery in the face of traumatic lossand a powerful meditation on the resilience of the soul On July 23 2007 Dr. William Petit suffered an unimaginable horror: Armed strangers broke into his suburban Connecticut home in the middle of the night bludgeoned him nearly to death tortured and killed his wife and two daughters and set their house on fire. He miraculously survived and yet living through those horrific hours was only the beginning of his ordeal. Broken and defeated Bill was forced to confront a question of ultimate consequence: How does a person find the strength to start over and live again after confronting the darkest of nightmares? In The Rising acclaimed journalist Ryan DAgostino takes us into Bill Petits world using unprecedented access to Bill and his family and friends to craft a startling inspiring portrait of human strength and endurance. To understand what produces a man capable of surviving the worst DAgostino digs deep into Bills all-American upbringing and in the process tells a remarkable story of not just a mans life but of a communitys power to shape that life through its embrace of loyalty and self-sacrifice as its most important values. Following Bill through the hardest daysthrough the desperate times in the aftermath of the attack and the harrowing trials of the two men responsible for itThe Rising offers hope that we can find a way back to ourselves even when all seems lost. Today Bill Petit has remarried. He and his wife have a baby boy. The very existence of this new family defies rational expectation and yet it confirms our persistent if often unspoken belief that we are greater than what befalls us and that if we know where to look for strength in trying times we will always find it. Bills story told as never before in The Rising is by turns compelling and uplifting an affirmation of the inexhaustible power of the human spirit.