In August 2014, Colum McCann’s email inbox flooded with emails depicting two different photos of Jim Foley. Foley, an American journalist, was killed by members of Islamic State. One of the photos grotesquely pictured Foley’s lifeless body. The other showed him still alive, reading one of McCann’s books. In conversation with Italian journalist Francesca Mannocchi, McCann shares the serendipitous origins of his book American Mother.

McCann got in contact with Jim Foley’s mother, Diane Foley. They collaborated to create American Mother, which tells Diane Foley’s story. It is a story of a mother’s grief for her son. It is a story of anger, towards the American government who did not bring him back. But it is also a story of forgiveness. When Diane Foley met with her son’s killer, Alexanda Kotey, as part of his plea bargain, she had already forgiven him.

With this story, McCann praises Diane Foley’s empathy and her ability to hold space for this multitude of feelings. For McCann, personal storytelling is a way to reverse the mercenary nature of facts. Instead, matters of love, pride, grief, sacrifice, beauty, and forgiveness are ineffable, impossible to change.

As a journalist, Jim Foley tried to collect stories and bring them back home to his own people. This was a brave and empathetic endeavour, and there are many journalists who continue to do this at great risk. His mother continues to work tirelessly towards changing hostage policies to make it possible for people like Jim to be brought back home. She knows the story never ends, and that more people need to listen. With her efforts, she keeps her son’s memory alive, but she also shares her radical empathy with many others.