When Diane Foley learned of the beheading of her son by Islamic State terrorists in 2014, “time didn’t just freeze. Time disappeared entirely from time.” James Foley’s murderers claimed they were acting in retaliation for America’s airstrikes in Iraq. The image of James kneeling in an orange jumpsuit, a black-clad captor standing triumphantly behind him, was adopted as part of Islamic State’s anti-American propaganda, and in the west became a symbol of the terrorist group’s brutality.

American Mother is Diane’s memoir, co-written with the Irish novelist Colum McCann, which details not just her son’s captivity and murder but his life before that. James was the eldest of five children in a God-fearing, all-American family who, after a period spent teaching, became a freelance reporter dedicated to telling the stories of victims of war.

After learning her son had been taken hostage in northern Syria – Diane knew something was wrong when he didn’t call on Thanksgiving – she gave up her job to devote herself to the campaign for his release. Here she reveals how she was left in limbo after government agencies refused to negotiate with his kidnappers and threatened the family with prosecution were they to pay a ransom for his freedom.

McCann reads the introduction, which, relayed in the third person for added potency, details Diane’s extraordinary meeting with one of her son’s murderers in prison. From there, the narration is picked up by the actor Jamie Lee Curtis, her solemn and powerful delivery capturing a mother’s immense grit and self-possession in the face of unspeakable cruelty.

Available via Bloomsbury, 7hr 2min

Further listening

Sociopath
Patric Gagne, Bluebird, 11hr 7min
Gagne reads her memoir detailing her experience living with a diagnosis of sociopathy, which manifests in a lack of empathy and guilt.

Twisted
Lynda La Plante, Zaffre, 16hr 48min
A 15-year-old girl goes missing following a sleepover with friends, driving her already stressed parents to the edge of despair. Emma Gregory reads.