JAMES (JIM) FOLEY was a freelance journalist, intent on sharing human truth from places of conflict and suffering. In September 2012, he was captured and held hostage in Syria by three British members of Islamic State known as “The Beatles” — for their propensity for giving out beatings. In August 2014, they murdered him and posted a video featuring his scripted last words and footage of his decapitated body online as “A Message to America”.
In 2021, his mother, Diane, came face to face with one of the so-called Beatles, Alexander Kotey, in an American prison. With her was the acclaimed novelist Colum McCann, who wrote American Mother with her. McCann was drawn to the story when he saw a photograph of Jim reading a copy of his novel Let the Great World Spin in a bunker in Afghanistan.
The first and final sections of the book are written in the third person. Diane Foley is observed in her encounters with Kotey. The long middle section is in the first person. She “speaks”. This switching of voices and the ambiguity about authorship (McCann is not a ghost writer here, but the lead author) represent and reflect some of the complexity of living in the aftermath of such traumatic experiences.
American Mother takes us deep into the human, ethical, and spiritual anguish of a cruelly bereaved woman, and reveals not only how she manages her encounters with Kotey and her feelings about him, but also her anger — that the Obama administration did not do more to work for her son’s release — and her effective activism that resulted.
AlamyThe murdered US freelance journalist James Foley
Diane Foley is an inspiration because she stares cruel and complex reality in the eye without becoming despondent or bitter. American Mother is both a Stabat Mater and a profound witness to the power of the Spirit. Diane Foley’s strong Catholic faith and deep and ready prayer are a constant and important part of her story, her life — her coping.
But Kotey is also shown to be a prayerful, spiritual, and, indeed, thoughtful person. This does not mitigate his brutality, violence, or cruelty, but it is part of the reality and complexity of the situation. Maybe it is the profound sense of vulnerability, connectedness, and accountability achieved by prayer which turns the arc of this narrative away from suffering, cruelty, and loss and towards grace, courage, and hope.
The Revd Dr Stephen Cherry is the Dean of King’s College, Cambridge. His latest book is Unforgivable? Exploring the limits of forgiveness (Bloomsbury, 2024).
American Mother
Colum McCann with Diane Foley
Bloomsbury £20
(978-1-5266-6348-1)
Church Times Bookshop £18