Tarleton Grad Writes Book about Leaving Amish Family

April 11, 2014

Spring is in the air and with spring comes thoughts of graduation and heading off to college. But that seemingly simple act of growing up means more to Emma Gingerich than most.

At 18, Gingerich left her entire family and the only life she'd ever known in the middle of the night, hidden away for weeks before coming to Texas. The strong, young woman remembers the trip to South Texas not like a refugee fleeing, but like any other teenager heading to college and the beginning of the rest of her life.

"I thought about the rules as I cruised down Highway 499 in my maroon 2001 Dodge pickup truck, air condition and radio both cranked up," writes Gingerich in her new book, Runaway Amish Girl. "I had no clue what I was doing, but finally escaping from so many pointless rules filled me with a sense of relief so deep no one else could ever fully understand — unless, of course, that person grew up Amish as well."

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