Laura Murphy, a 28-year-old lawyer from Newfoundland, turned to solo travel after her fiancé, Devon O’Grady, died suddenly just one month before their planned wedding.

Her experience, which she documented in a viral TikTok post in August 2024, is now chronicled in her new book, "The Solo Honeymoon: A Brief Beautiful True Love Story," co-authored with Bret Witter. The book covers Murphy's six-week journey through Europe and her three-year relationship with O’Grady, who died at age 32.

Murphy described the initial shock and grief following O'Grady's death. He passed away from a ruptured dissecting aortic aneurysm while at work. Murphy recalled him stepping out of a client meeting saying he couldn't breathe and dying in her arms before paramedics arrived.

"I saw his face go white. I will never forget it. I see it at night, in the morning, when I beg for him, when I beg for release," Murphy wrote in the book. She spent the subsequent three months in bed, processing her grief by looking at photos and writing messages to O’Grady on her phone.

Despite her struggles, Murphy decided to proceed with the honeymoon trip they had discussed, which included planned destinations in London, France, and Italy. She began her journey in London, initially spending two days in her hotel room crying and sleeping.

Eventually, Murphy found the strength to engage with her surroundings. She met and connected with a group of American college students studying abroad in London, even going vintage shopping with them. It was during this time that she posted her first TikTok about her solo trip, which unexpectedly gained millions of views and resonated with others who had experienced loss.

"It felt surreal," Murphy said. "It made me feel like I was not alone."

Her travels continued to Nice, France, where she met her best friend; Morocco; Ireland, where she stayed with O’Grady's mother and aunt; Bath, England; and Castellina, Italy. In Italy, she visited places O’Grady had shared stories about from his own family vacations.

"That was very special," Murphy said of visiting Italy with O’Grady's father and sister.

Highlights of her trip included a backstage tour of "Les Misérables" in London, dining at a cliffside restaurant in Nice, and sharing a moment of emotional release with O’Grady's mother on a mountaintop in Ireland.

Upon returning home, Murphy acknowledged that she may never fully move past O’Grady's death. However, the solo honeymoon proved to her that life is still worth living and that she possesses the strength to continue forward. "I didn’t think I would get through the summer after he passed, and I got through that. And I can look back and feel proud of myself," she stated. "Devon would be proud of me, too."

Murphy and O’Grady first met in 2021 when Murphy was a law student interviewing for an internship at the firm where O’Grady worked. He was a law clerk at the time. They became engaged in the spring of 2023.

O'Grady was described as a healthy individual, an avid runner who did not smoke or drink and maintained a consistent sleep schedule.