Excerpt from Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Because I had to do so many other things.

I stood there and suppressed that howl. Because I was alone, and no one could help me. And if I let go, if I fell, I might not be able to get back up.

In books and movies no one gets this news alone. Someone comes to the door. Someone makes sure you're sitting down, offers you water, asks whom you'd like them to call.

But no one had done me this kindness. A tired young doctor had picked up my husband's cell phone, on which he had never set up a passcode, and hit the speed dial for home.

The first brutality in what I would learn is a brutal, broken system.

Excerpted from Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks. Copyright © 2025 by Geraldine Brooks. Excerpted by permission of Viking. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.