From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Horse comes a heartrending and beautiful memoir about the sudden loss of her husband and her journey towards peace.

In their early years together, Geraldine Brooks and Tony Horwitz were foreign correspondents reporting in conflict zones. They eventually 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 sunset with friends at the beach. But all of this ended abruptly when, on Memorial Day 2019, Geraldine received the phone call we all dread. Tony – just 60 years old and, to her knowledge, vigorous and healthy – collapsed and died on a Washington, D.C. sidewalk.

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.

GUEST HOST: Jacki Lyden is a host of NPR's Weekend Edition and Weekend All Things Considered. She was part of the award-winning NPR team that covered the Persian Gulf War. She wrote Daughter of the Queen of Sheba: A Memoir, which recounts her childhood of growing up with a mother who suffered from manic depression, and at times, believed she was the Queen of Sheba. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Livestreaming Underwriter: Nancy Davy

Virtual Ticket plus book (ticket fees not included): $47 Shipped; $39 book-pickup at Horizon Books in Traverse City

Even if you can’t make it to the City Opera House, you can still enjoy National Writers Series events from the comfort of your own home on event night or later on-demand when it’s more convenient.

Each Virtual Ticket includes a private YouTube link to the event, which begins at 6:50 PM. Virtual audience members can contribute questions to the Q&A through a moderated chat.

Shipping is available anywhere in the continental U.S. by our local bookstore partner Horizon Books of downtown Traverse City, Michigan. Actual costs applied at checkout. Signed copies are only available at the live-event.

Book Release Date: February 4, 2025 – Traverse City locals who’d like to read the book in advance of the event may have the option to pick up their copy at Horizon Books. Instructions will be emailed to you after your purchase.

Additional transaction fees are applied at checkout.