Healing from Gunshots – The Book

Why I wrote this book and created this website

“Since 1975 I’ve been healing from gunshot wounds and I wrote this book and created this website because I would like to be in touch with others struggling with the loss, the grief, the trauma and being a survivor of devastating violence. ” ~ Carol Dreiling

What People are Saying About the Book

Review by Anne McCracken, author of A Broken Heart Still Beats: After Your Child Dies

“A Gift”

One weeknight in 1975, my mother telephoned me. In those pre-portable cell phone years, a long-distance call on a weeknight was rare, even worrisome. And indeed, she was crying. “Two men on drugs killed Mr. and Mrs. Dreiling in their living room,” she told me. ‘Then they shot [their daughter] Carol and kidnapped her.” . . .

My school classmate has spent decades recovering from this horrific night, filling stacks of journals with her thoughts and learning to forgive. In her brave memoir, she tracks her progress, both physical and emotional, through the years.

As Carol learned herself, isolation does little to help. It was only when she met others who had suffered great loss too that she began to heal. Her book is a gift to the many – unfortunately — faced with creating new lives, in the dark shade of grief and loss.”

…

Review by Judith Toy, author of Murder as a Call to Love: A True Story of Transformation and Forgiveness

“New Normal”

It’s been an honor to witness Carol’s healing journey, not only from the nightmare of seeing her parents murdered before her eyes, but from her own critical gunshot wounds, hostage ordeal and brave escape.

I am amazed at her almost methodical approach to mending her broken places and the deep fears that ensued. In this viral time of guns gone mad, she records her struggles with physical and emotional pain, her loves and bright moments, and the specific therapies and medicines and family connections that return her to the new normal, bereft of her beloved parents.

To help mend our own grieving, we all would do well to take lessons from Healing from Gun Shots.

…

Review by Celia Miles author of the Marcy Dehanne Grist Mill Mysteries

“We Move Onward”

Carol Dreiling’s Healing from Gun Shots starts with the horrific murder of her parents, her kidnapping, her severe wounds, physical and psychological and it covers the long years afterwards: the healing that does not come easily, the spurts forward, the spats backward.

It’s difficult to read in its honesty, its unflinching attempt to move on after such trauma. Afterwards, everything seems to hinge somehow on that bloody evening.

There is no neat clean-up, no nice “novel” ending—as the author recognizes, hard as it is and necessary, “we move onward.” Survivors will recognize and appreciate the healing that never truly scars up.

…

Review by Claudia Nix, Co-Founder/Owner with Mike Nix of Liberty Bikes
Asheville, NC

“Out of Control Violence”

I found this book enlightening and hopeful. Carol has shared her own and her family’s trauma of losing their parents to gun violence.

I believe that this book should be required reading for all our
Congressmen,
Congresswomen,
and Senators.

The length of time it took for Carol and her siblings to begin healing from this trauma was tremendous. Way too many people in this country are going through this same trauma each day.

I appreciate how much Carol worked for years on the healing process. I hope many people will read this book and gain the awareness that is needed for healing. I hope that we can work on stopping the mass killing that is ravaging our country.

…

Review by Claire Drehmel

“Difficult Subject, Well-Worth the Read”

Carol Ruth Dreiling has lived in WNC for most of her adult life. She published her first book spring  2021. The healing part of Healing from Gun Shots takes place right here in Asheville.

Now in her 70s, Carol, at the age of 27 witnessed the murder of both of her parents in their living room. She was shot 3 times and has 7 bullet wounds.

The tale of that horror encompasses only the first few pages, while the rest of the book focuses not only on her own long journey to physical and emotional healing, but the eventual acceptance and even forgiveness of the perpetrators.

A story of redemption for both herself and her family. Although it is a difficult subject, this book is well-worth the read.

…

Chief Willian H. Brown, Blacksburg PD (Retired)

“From an Law Enforcement Perspective”

Your book Healing from Gun Shots was special to me, because I was involved in the event from law enforcement perspective. The beginning was interesting as I read through the book, as there were a few things I did not know that were revealed to me in your book.

Your journey over the years doing the healing process was second to none. I believe this book could be used to assist victims who have been traumatized such as you and your family.

No one knows the stages one goes through the healing process. You keeping a journal all of those years was great way to express your feelings.

John Collins was stabbed to death in prison when I was attending the FBI Academy. Watching the news that evening made me feel pretty good, knowing he would never be able to kill again.

I imagine that you and your family will continue to go through healing phases. I commend you on your book and would give it 5 Stars. I would recommend it to victims who do not fully understand the healing phases after being traumatized.

…

Amazon Review by Paulette Carter

“Gun violence remains a very present problem” I attended college with Carol in the 60s. It was almost 30 years later when I returned home to NC that we reconnected and grew our friendship. A chance meeting at a writers’ workshop has led to almost 25 years of conversations.

These talks strengthen our friendship and build a foundation on many common interests. Over the years, I read excerpts from HEALING FROM GUN SHOTS. Finally, the finished book was read through tears. Sadness weaves in and out at the horrors of the shooting. Joy walks on each page at moment-by-moment triumphs of good over evil.

Writing is hard work. Writing about family is harder. Writing about violent life-changing events may be hardest of all. Carol has confronted these challenges and many more to bring us along on this road to recovery, forgiveness, and healing.

The writing is thoughtful, coherent & life affirming. This is a well written book that is testimony for good writing, but also proof that love is more powerful than hate. This, I hope, is the beginning of more books to be written by Carol.

Top Reviews from Amazon

Wesley White – 5.0 out of 5 stars

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2021 – Verified Purchase

More Than Trama … The author’s painful time of being present to the murder of her parents, her own being shot seven times, forced to drive her assailants, escape, surgery, and years of recovery takes its place in a larger construct of violence that cannot be ranked. Each episode carries its own arc generations down the line. 

It is clear that one moment in the author’s life has had to be dealt with — again and again. Even so, the story is more than repetition. Growth and healing beyond a tragedy is the arc. The opening “Gratitudes” will resurface through the book as readers are introduced to people carrying kindness with them. This makes it a useful book for others who have experienced their own story of being on the receiving end of violence or a book club looking for an easy way to begin dealing with a difficult issue of continuing individual and structural violence.  

I particularly appreciated the references to organizations that could be helpful to a reader and the whole of chapter 23, “Healing Tools.” This constructive response to tragedy can best be summed up with the last word of the book, “onward.”

….

Click to read more reviews on >> Amazon