Book Review: Not Guilty

It’s 1974 and Carrie Shepherd, daughter of the minister at Windspree Community Church, is a college senior with plans to be a missionary in Africa. Raped by a masked assailant, Carrie is so traumatized she tells no one until she realizes she’s pregnant. Refusing to have an abortion, she must find the courage to face her family, her fiance, her friends and a gossiping, angry congregation which may include her attacker.

In Not Guilty, we meet Carrie Shepherd as her perky and perfect life is shattered by something she would never have believed would happen to her. Upended, Carrie struggles to reform her life around the new truths that define her: she is pregnant by someone other than her fiance. And she doesn’t know who that someone is. What follows is as much a coming of age story as a mystery as we see Carrie wrestle with her pregnancy and the changes it necessitates in her planned future. In addition, the pain of idle words and Christ’s call for Christians to refrain from them is vividly painted.

If you’re looking for something a little different (not romance, not a dead-body-murder-mystery), Not Guilty is worth a read.