Memorial Days

A Memoir

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER · A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist

A New York Times Notable Book of 2025 · A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2025 · A Time Best Memoir of 2025 · Named a Best Book of 2025 by NPR, People, Air Mail, Bookreporter, and Publishers Weekly

“Brooks tracks the geography of grief with patience and grace as she comes to terms with the ongoing nature of outliving the ones you love most. ... Her memoir is certainly a testament to her own unique loss, but it’s moreover a lifeline to others who will find themselves in this familiar, shattered landscape of grief.” —Los Angeles Times

“A rich account of marriage and mourning.” —Washington Post

A heartrending and beautiful memoir of sudden loss and a journey towards peace, from the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Horse

Many cultural and religious traditions expect those who are grieving to step away from the world. In contemporary life, we are more often met with red tape and to-do lists. This is exactly what happened to Geraldine Brooks when her partner of more than three decades, Tony Horwitz – just sixty years old and, to her knowledge, vigorous and healthy – collapsed and died on a Washington, D. C. sidewalk.

After spending their early years together in conflict zones as foreign correspondents, Geraldine and Tony settled down to raise two boys on Martha’s Vineyard. The life they built was one of meaningful work, good humor, and tenderness, as they spent their days writing and their evenings cooking family dinners or watching the sun set with friends at the beach. But all of this ended abruptly when, on Memorial Day 2019, Geraldine received the phone call we all dread. The demands were immediate and many. Without space to grieve, the sudden loss became a yawning gulf.

Three years later, she booked a flight to a remote island off the coast of Australia with the intention of finally giving herself the time to mourn. In a shack on a pristine, rugged coast she often went days without seeing another person. There, she pondered the various ways in which cultures grieve and what rituals of her own might help to rebuild a life around the void of Tony’s death.

A spare and profoundly moving memoir that joins the classics of the genre, Memorial Days is a portrait of a larger-than-life man and a timeless love between souls that exquisitely captures the joy, agony, and mystery of life.

Honest portrayal of grief

Smart, thoughtful, and honest. Brooks writes a heartfelt memorial of a life. A process of grief which I felt deeply as one who has experienced devastating loss.

Phenomenal, as always by Geraldine Brooks

A beautiful incredible tribute to Tony Horowitz and Geraldine Brooks herself. Listening to Geraldine Reed it was especially lovely.

Excellent

I usually avoid Memoirs. Nor am I a fan of an author read book. But this offering is well worth your listening hours and your credit.
I bought this because of my deep respect for this author. Her wonderful craftsmanship is on display here as well.
This is a story shared over the ages and reflective for those who have lived it.
My life is always told in terms of Before and After. 24 years later, it is the defining event of my story.

Touching.

At times hard to listen to, still so genuine without becoming sentimental. Beautiful. A tribute to their relationship.

Her honesty

Her story and her help given to me in my own grief. She is resilient and honest.