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What strikes one first and foremost when beginning this book is the photographs by Bruno Zanzoterra. Those of Fr. Jean-Pierre, the last survivor of the monastic community of Tibhirine, are endearing and poignant; those of the monasteries, both in Morocco and Algeria, are stunning, especially the Atlas mountains surrounding Tibhirine. One keeps returning to these photographs to check out things in the written text.The latter is presented in a very interesting way. First is the narrative of Jean-Pierre's life from childhood and his experience of the monastic life, lived especially at Tibhirine and, most important, the time of crisis in Algeria as told by Jean-Pierre to the author. After each chapter of narrative there is what the author calls the Book of Hours- Our Lady of Atlas. Here Freddy Derwahl relates what is happening during the days of his visit to the monastery in Midelt where Jean-Pierre now resides. According to the text, the author was there from July 19, 2011 to August 2, 2011, and it was during this time that he grew to know Jean-Pierre in a deeper way. Some of the salient points of the narrative are the description of Jean-Pierre's friendship with Br. Luc, whom everyone at Tibhirine sought out for medical assistance. Some of the letters of Br. Luc are quoted and are very touching. Of course Jean-Pierre's experience of the abduction and the fact that he and Br. Amadee were forgotten is described. And also the reaction of Jean-Pierre to the movie Of Gods and Men is extremely interesting. ...this reviewer would recommend reading the text if only for the touching and endearing details that have not yet to her knowledge appeared in print.Cistercian Studies Quarterly, Volume 49.2, 2014

In 2011, Belgian journalist Freddy Derwahl visited the Monastery of Our Lady of Atlas, located in Midelt, Morocco. His purpose was to get a firsthand account from Brother Jean-Pierre Schumacher of a night fifteen years earlier at the Monastery of Tibhirine in Algeria. During Algeria's civil war, danger from terrorists escalated daily. Although the monastery had already been attacked once, the monks remained; they did not want to sever their good relationship with the Muslim people of the community.On the evening of March 26, 1996, terrorists entered the monastery. Having been instructed to capture the seven, the intruders were unaware that there were actually nine brothers in the monastery. That is how Brother Jean-Pierre and another man escaped capture. After being help for nearly two months, the seven monks were murdered.As a young man, Derwahl had been a postulant at Tibhirine and had known the victims. When he visited the monastery in Morocco in 2011 and renewed his friendship with Schumacher, the latter was eighty-seven years old and the only living survivor of the 1996 attack.Derwahl's account combines past and present events and can seem disjointed at times, but this is an inspiring story. The Last Monk of Tibhirine includes beautiful photographs by Bruno Zanzoterra.Beverly M. Bixler, Congregational Libraries Today 2014 What strikes one first and foremost when beginning this book is the photographs by Bruno Zanzoterra. Those of Fr. Jean-Pierre, the last survivor of the monastic community of Tibhirine, are endearing and poignant; those of the monasteries, both in Morocco and Algeria, are stunning, especially the Atlas mountains surrounding Tibhirine. One keeps returning to these photographs to check out things in the written text.The latter is presented in a very interesting way. First is the narrative of Jean-Pierre's life from childhood and his experience of the monastic life, lived especially at Tibhirine and, most important, the time of crisis in Algeria as told by Jean-Pierre to the author. After each chapter of narrative there is what the author calls the Book of Hours- Our Lady of Atlas. Here Freddy Derwahl relates what is happening during the days of his visit to the monastery in Midelt where Jean-Pierre now resides. According to the text, the author was there from July 19, 2011 to August 2, 2011, and it was during this time that he grew to know Jean-Pierre in a deeper way. Some of the salient points of the narrative are the description of Jean-Pierre's friendship with Br. Luc, whom everyone at Tibhirine sought out for medical assistance. Some of the letters of Br. Luc are quoted and are very touching. Of course Jean-Pierre's experience of the abduction and the fact that he and Br. Amade were forgotten is described. And also the reaction of Jean-Pierre to the movie Of Gods and Men is extremely interesting. ...this reviewer would recommend reading the text if only for the touching and endearing details that have not yet to her knowledge appeared in print.Cistercian Studies Quarterly, Volume 49.2, 2014

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Freddy Derwahl is a German journalist and author. He studied at Louvain, Aachen, and Paris and is the author of many books. This is his first to be translated into English.

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