Brendan Walsh is writer from New England who now lives near the Pacific Ocean with his daughters and his trusty dog, Monty. He studied history with the intention of telling stories that otherwise never might have been told, and has spent the better part of two decades leading global and national level education development projects. Memorial Day, Brendan's first novel, soon will be followed by his second novel, set in a mill town in Central Massachusetts in 1938.
The themes that interest Brendan the most are family stories, often involving history and the ways in which these stories evolve into myths that can obscure our understanding of our own pasts.
Memorial Day
by Brendan Walsh
Memorial Day
by Brendan Walsh
Published Feb 04, 2023
356 Pages
Genre: FICTION / Historical / General
Book Details
“Keep your mouth shut, and nobody gets hurt.”
"Keep your mouth shut, and no one gets hurt."
That’s what Joe DaSilva told himself to survive the Bataan Death March and nearly three years as a prisoner of war in the Philippines. When he comes home, he finds that his best friend, Bill, is engaged to Peggy, the woman he loved since kindergarten—and the woman who rejected his marriage proposal before he enlisted in the Navy.
To survive with his two best friends living the life he wanted at the end of his street, Joe adopts the mantra that served him well during the war, and walls himself off from his emotions and his friends. Until Leigh Ann and her daughter, Shelly, crash into his life and topple his carefully constructed defenses. This sets Joe on his reluctant journey toward acceptance and redemption.
Memorial Day is a story of friendship, love, misunderstandings, and the life-long disruptions caused by war. It makes visible the lasting wounds that victims of unimaginable acts bear throughout their lives, and invites the silent ghosts of the lives we once imagined to make amends with the lives we have lived.
About the Author
