A family forever changed by MH17
A story of hope, resilience and
enduring love
THE DAY THE SKY FELL
On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine. All 298 people on board were killed, including 38 Australians. Among them were Howard and Susan Horder.
This is their son's story.
What happens after the headlines fade?
The Day the Sky Fell is a personal account of what happens after the headlines fade. It follows the shock of sudden loss and the complicated path through grief and the long search for answers in the wake of a global tragedy.
Matthew Horder was not a writer. He was a son who didn’t want to let his parents’ deaths be in vain or allow the details to slip away. And so, a seed of an idea began, and this book is the result – a record of living through a traumatic event and coming out the other side.
Matthew guides readers through the early days of disbelief, the difficult travel to the Netherlands, the forensic hangars where wreckage was laid out piece by piece and the steady work of investigators who chose precision over noise. There is anger here. There are questions that remain.
This is not a book about ‘getting over it’. It is about learning to live with it.
It is about grief, justice, resilience. And, it is about slowly finding hope again after sudden loss.
The memoir that you won’t want to put down
“How do you live with an unspeakable tragedy? Well, the short answer is, initially, you don’t. You feel like you are struggling to survive. There’s no ‘getting over it’. And, in those early days, you learn to carry it with you because you can’t get rid of it. Over time, you can find a way to have it sit with you, but it is still there. Some days you shoulder it more easily. Other days, it presses against your forehead or chest like a weight you didn’t ask for and can’t put down.”
A story that reaches beyond one family
While based on the story of MH17, The Day the Sky Fell will benefit anyone who has lost someone without warning. It explores how public tragedy collides with private grief, how truth is pursued through painstaking investigation and how identity reshapes itself in the aftermath.
For organisations and leadership teams, Matthew also speaks about turning life’s toughest moments into lasting impact. He demonstrates how you can draw from lived experience to explore resilience, responsibility and the strength of simply showing up.
IN MEMORY
Howard and Susan Horder
'Two extraordinary people. Devoted parents. Adored grandparents. Their lives were taken in circumstances no one should ever endure, yet their love, wisdom, and laughter remain with us always. I see them living on through my actions every day. Thank you for the start you gave me in life. Forever remembered. Forever missed. Forever loved.' - Matthew
