Magnificent Sorrow: A Memoir of Two Lives is a creative non-fiction account of the short life of Suzette Ryerson, a Chicago woman who survived the Titanic and served on the French Front during World War I; and of the connection between her life, which ended in 1921, and the death of Kate Horsley’s son in 2000. Suzette’s father, Arthur Ryerson, and his family were on board the Titanic, her father going down with the liner. Her mother with her three daughters and one surviving son became part of high society in Chicago, where Suzette started to do hospital work. When World War I broke out, she left medical school to volunteer on the French Front. Woven into this narrative are first-person accounts of the author’s life and her son’s death, and the stunning way she connected with Suzette and her family.
Magnificent Sorrow: A Memoir of Two Lives is a creative non-fiction account of the short life of Suzette Ryerson, a Chicago woman who survived the Titanic and served on the French Front during World War I; and of the connection between her life, which ended in 1921, and the death of Kate Horsley’s son in 2000. Suzette’s father, Arthur Ryerson, and his family were on board the Titanic, her father going down with the liner. Her mother with her three daughters and one surviving son became part of high society in Chicago, where Suzette started to do hospital work. When World War I broke out, she left medical school to volunteer on the French Front. Woven into this narrative are first-person accounts of the author’s life and her son’s death, and the stunning way she connected with Suzette and her family.