Editor’s note: This segment was rebroadcast on May 25, 2026. Click here for that audio.
It took three years for Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks to grieve the death of her husband, acclaimed author and journalist Tony Horwitz. She says she spent those years on the myriad tasks required after a spouse passes away — figuring out insurance and finances and supporting your children in their grief. But that meant going through life feeling like she was putting on a costume to leave the house.
Eventually, the Australian-born Brooks decided to go to the most remote place she knew of: Flinders Island in Tasmania. It was there — without her children, her pets, or her day-to-day responsibilities — that she undertook the hard work of grieving Horwitz’s death. She recounts that journey, as well as what she learned, in her new memoir “Memorial Days.”
Book excerpt: ‘Memorial Days’
By Geraldine Brooks
Published with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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