An extraordinary story of grace, forgiveness, and moral courage.

The English language has no specific word for the parent that has lost a child. There are words for orphan, widow, and widower, but none that captures this tragic type of loss.

It has been eleven years since Diane Foley's son, the American journalist James Foley, was kidnapped in northern Syria, and nearly ten since that day in August 2014 when she learned that he had been murdered by ISIS in a public beheading that reverberated around the world. A whole decade. Time rushes past. Yet, for Diane, that moment is unending.

In "American Mother," legendary author Colum McCann tells Diane's story as she recalls the months of his captivity, the efforts made to bring him home, and the days following his death, during which Diane came face to face with one of the men responsible for her son's kidnapping and torture. A testament to the power of radical empathy and moral courage, "American Mother" takes us inside one woman's extraordinary journey to find connection in a world torn apart and to fight for others as a way to keep her son's memory alive.