Memorial Days

Geraldine Brooks’s memoir Memorial Days recounts her journey through grief after suddenly losing her husband, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz, on Memorial Day 2019. Set across two timelines and locations—2019 in Martha’s Vineyard and three years later in Flinders Island—the memoir intertwines personal stories with broader meditations on love and loss. Though Brooks is best known for her fiction, Memorial Days isn’t her first work of nonfiction. Foreign Correspondence (1997) reflects on her early fascination with the world beyond Australia. 

This guide refers to the 2025 Viking e-book edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, animal death, and substance use.

Summary

On Memorial Day in 2019, author Geraldine Brooks received a call from a resident physician at George Washington Medical Center in Washington, DC, informing her that her husband, the journalist Tony Horwitz, died after collapsing in the middle of the street. Tony was in DC on a book tour for his latest book, Spying on the South. Brooks was alone in their home in Martha’s Vineyard when she received the news. She was first struck by the cold detachment with which the physician delivered such traumatic and painful news. She had little time to process the tragedy, as she had to quickly move to inform family members and make travel arrangements to get to DC. Tony had been staying at his brother Josh’s home in DC, and he, along with Tony’s mother, Ellie, and his sister, Erica, gathered back in DC. Meanwhile, Brooks agonized over telling their two sons, Nathaniel and Bizu, the terrible news. Nathaniel was on a flight to Sydney, Australia, and Bizu was at boarding school. Brooks tasked her sister, who lived in Sydney, with breaking the news to Nathaniel, but he found out via text as soon as his plane landed. Brooks told Bizu over the phone, and Josh’s wife traveled to meet Bizu and accompany him on the journey home.

When Brooks arrived at the hospital in DC, the staff informed her that Tony’s body was already sent to the coroner and that she wouldn’t be able to see him until after the autopsy. Devastated and still in shock, she took his personal effects and gathered with Tony’s family at Josh’s home. There, they found Tony’s suitcase, which was still full of the new clothes he purchased for the tour. Tony’s sister, Erica, wanted to begin planning memorial services immediately, but Brooks felt unable to make any big decisions. The news of Tony’s death broke, and media outlets bombarded Brooks with calls for information to compose his obituaries. Brooks spoke with the veteran combat medic who attended to Tony after he collapsed on the street. Hearing about his tender care of Tony in his last moments brought her comfort, and she was thankful that he wasn’t alone in the end. Bizu arrived, and he and Brooks visited the location where Tony collapsed.

Brooks was finally allowed to see Tony, though she could only see his face since his body was scarred from the autopsy and wrapped in a blanket. She touched his face, and the reality that he was gone finally began to sank in. The coroner’s initial report concluded that Tony died from atrial fibrillation due to a blockage in his “widow-maker” artery. However, the blockage was not significant enough to cause sudden death, so the coroner ordered a more detailed analysis. Though Tony seemed to be in good health, he did have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, both of which were managed with medication. However, Tony recently experienced an episode of shortness of breath and mentioned it to his doctor during a routine appointment. His doctor had scheduled further testing. Brooks reflects on the toll that the book-writing process took on Tony and how he had depended on stimulants and alcohol to get through it. Guilt set in as she wondered if she should have done more to help him manage his health.

Brooks began to sort through Tony’s will and financial affairs. He handled all their investments, so she hired an accountant to help her make sense of everything. Tony’s will presented a legal complication, and the court assigned a liaison for Bizu to ensure that he wasn’t exploited as a minor. Brooks was horrified and pledged to fight in court to defend her credibility as Bizu’s guardian. Additionally, their medical insurance canceled their policy, and Nathaniel got a state representative involved to lobby their case.

Brooks and the family eventually held a small memorial service at their home in Martha’s Vineyard for family and close friends. Tony was Jewish, and though they were not practicing, a rabbi presided over the service, and they recited the kaddish, the Jewish prayer of mourning. Tony’s body was cremated, and though he didn’t leave any specific written instructions for his remains, Brooks remembered a passing reference he made once about burying him on the baseball field where he played community softball. She honored his wish, and she and her sons buried his ashes along with his mitt on the field. Brooks received the final coroner’s report, which ruled that Tony’s death was caused by myocarditis. The visitors left after the memorial, and Brooks found it impossible to be alone in Martha’s Vineyard. She visited her sister in Sydney, a place full of memories of Tony. Resolving to complete her novel Horse, Brooks traveled to France but arrived just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning and had to abruptly return home before the borders closed. Nathaniel and Bizu came home, and though they were in lockdown and the future was uncertain, Brooks was happy that her sons were together. She completed her novel Horse and dedicated it to Tony.

Though Brooks received some measure of closure from the services, she still hasn’t fully processed Tony’s death three years later. She feels that she has merely been playing the role of a grieving widow and determines that she must take action to fully grieve Tony’s loss so that she can move forward with her life. In February of 2023, Brooks relocates to Flinders Island, off the coast of Tasmania, to spend time alone in nature and immerse herself in memory. The island’s solitude and natural beauty give Brooks the physical and emotional space to fully comprehend Tony’s loss. Along with remembering his death, she also recalls fond memories of their courtship, early marriage, and life as journalists and writers, which bring her comfort. She reads Tony’s journals and learns about his life before they met, revealing a side of him that she wasn’t familiar with. Brooks considers mourning rituals across cultures and constructs her own way of mourning, which isn’t bound by societal expectations and helps her gradually navigate the depths of loss. She advocates for a more compassionate approach toward the bereaved, encouraging people to acknowledge the pain of grief and allow space for the bereaved to process their grief. Brooks leaves Flinders with a renewed sense of purpose and self.