Travelling with Ghosts

'A cross between H is for Hawk and Wild' Stylist

'A courageous memoir of love and loss . . . compelling' Sunday Express

'Intimate and inspiring' Observer

'Rich and absorbing' Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love

'A brave and necessary record of love, as beautiful as it is heartbreaking' Ann Patchett, author of Commonwealth

On a warm evening on a beautiful beach in Thailand, Shannon Leone Fowler's life was shattered when a box jellyfish - the most venomous animal in the world - wrapped itself around her fiance Sean's legs, stinging and killing him in minutes.

Devastated by the tragedy, Shannon, a marine biologist, could not face returning to her home by the ocean. She had travelled the world with Sean, and to honour his memory set out on a new journey - this time alone, to make sense of her loss.

From contemplating the silence of Auschwitz, to stumbling through poverty-stricken Romania and Bulgaria, to sitting shiva amid daily bombings in Israel, to finding humour and creativity in Sarajevo, a city still scarred by war, Shannon begins to chart a path through grief - learning to live with loss without letting it destroy her.

New edition includes an interview between Shannon Leone Fowler and her mother, author of international bestseller The Jane Austen Book Club and Man Booker Prize shortlisted We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler.

“A searing memoir [that] celebrates a life cut short, a love never given a chance to grow, and a process of recovery bravely illustrating that while life after tragedy goes on, the chilly fingers of grief touch us in a way that mark us forever”

A cross between H IS FOR HAWK and WILD, this beautifully written tale follows Fowler's travels through Eastern Europe - STYLIST

A heart-breaking story about the randomness of tragedy told with great courage and tenacity

Gloriously rendered, beautifully written, but utterly devastating . . . intimate and inspiring - OBSERVER

A rich and absorbing memoir that shows the reader what it feels like to lose your future in a matter of seconds ... Shannon learns to travel on, to get back in the ocean and to build a new life - The Times

Heartbreaking but beautiful ... as much as this is a tale of grief and loss, it's one of love too - Bustle

Shannon Leone Fowler is a marine biologist, writer, and single mother of three young children, living in London. Since her doctorate on Australian sea lions, she's taught marine ecology in the Bahamas and Galapagos, led a university course on killer whales in the San Juan islands, spent a number of seasons as marine mammal biologist onboard ships in both the Arctic and Antarctic, taught graduate students field techniques while studying Weddell seals on the Ross Ice Shelf, and worked as a science writer at National Public Radio in Washington, DC. TRAVELING WITH GHOSTS is her first book.

'A cross between H is for Hawk and Wild ' Stylist 'A courageous memoir of love and loss . . . compelling' Sunday Express 'Intimate and inspiring' Observer 'Rich and absorbing' Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love 'A brave and necessary record of love, as beautiful as it is heartbreaking' Ann Patchett, author of Commonwealth On a warm evening on a beautiful beach in Thailand, Shannon Leone Fowler's life was shattered when a box jellyfish - the most venomous animal in the world - wrapped itself around her fiance Sean's legs, stinging and killing him in minutes. Devastated by the tragedy, Shannon, a marine biologist, could not face returning to her home by the ocean. She had travelled the world with Sean, and to honour his memory set out on a new journey - this time alone, to make sense of her loss. From contemplating the silence of Auschwitz, to stumbling through poverty-stricken Romania and Bulgaria, to sitting shiva amid daily bombings in Israel, to finding humour and creativity in Sarajevo, a city still scarred by war, Shannon begins to chart a path through grief - learning to live with loss without letting it destroy her. New edition includes an interview between Shannon Leone Fowler and her mother, author of international bestseller The Jane Austen Book Club and Man Booker Prize shortlisted We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves , Karen Joy Fowler.

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