Us, After: A Memoir of Love and Suicide

"This poignant, soul-baring memoir is truly one of the most moving accounts of grief, loss and resilience that I've read." — Tara Parker-Pope, The Washington Post "Masterfully written and compelling... Zimmerman's book is a marvelous feat; I stayed up all night reading it." — Deesha Philyaw, author, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies "Us, After is one of the best memoirs I have read in a very long time. It is poetic and lyrical, unflinching, and a testament to the strength of the human soul...We bleed for Zimmerman and her two daughters. We laugh and cry with them. And ultimately we marvel at their strength and resilience." — Buzz Bissinger, author, Friday Night Lights When a state trooper appeared at Rachel Zimmerman's door to report that her husband had jumped to his death off a nearby bridge, she fell to her knees, unable to fully absorb the news. How could the man she married, a devoted father and robotics professor at MIT, have committed such a violent act? How would she explain this to her young daughters? And could she have stopped him? A longtime journalist, she probed obsessively, believing answers would help her survive. She interviewed doctors, suicide researchers and a man who jumped off the same bridge and lived. Us, After examines domestic devastation and resurgence, digging into the struggle between public and private selves, life's shifting perspectives, the work of motherhood, and the secrets we keep. In this memoir, Zimmerman confronts the unimaginable and discovers the good in what remains.