The World Looks Different Now: A Memoir of Suicide, Faith, and Family

On a glorious, if blisteringly hot, Saturday in August 2010, Margaret Thomson's world is suddenly shattered by the incomprehensible news that her twenty-two-year-old son, a medic in the army, has taken his life.

In a deep state of shock, Thomson and her husband immediately travel to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where their son Kieran was stationed, in an effort to assist their daughter-in-law. Upon their arrival, though, the couple find themselves plunged into a labyrinthine and, at times, seemingly bizarre world of military rules and regulations.

Eventually, after the funeral and the memorial services are over, an even more challenging journey--emotionally as well as geographically--ensues, especially for Margaret, who, as a former journalist, is determined to find out more about the circumstances surrounding her son's death, no matter how high the cost.

As she enters her second year of grieving, Thomson receives an unexpected invitation from an unlikely source--the army, which she's often blamed in many ways, whether fairly or not, for her son's death. Seizing upon this opportunity, Thomson finds that her perspective is changed--literally--and that as a result the world does indeed look different now.

Author: Margaret Thomson
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 07/14/2020
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.50w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781631526930


Award: Benjamin Franklin Award - Gold Medal Winner


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/0001

About the Author
Thomson, Margaret: - Margaret Thomson is a journalist and television producer who's reported on a variety of subjects, from Middle East politics to the British royal family. As a radio correspondent for ABC News, she was the first American broadcast journalist to report the end of the Falklands War in May 1982; several years later she became the first radio correspondent to report on the AIDS epidemic in Africa.Upon returning to the United States in 1992, she taught journalism and television production at the University of Memphis. In 1993, she worked as a production associate on the HBO documentary The Trial of James Earl Ray. Thomson continues to write for print and online publications. In 2016, she and her husband Tim relocated from Memphis to Franklin, Tennessee. Their son Matt, a recent graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy, visits frequently from his job in the shipping industry.