Travelling with Ghosts

'A cross between H is for Hawk and Wild' Stylist
A beautiful memorial to a great love and a brave survival guide to coming to terms with loss.

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'A cross between H is for Hawk and Wild, this beautifully written tale follows Fowler's travels through Eastern Europe after her fiancé was killed by a jellyfish' Stylist

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

'A rich and absorbing memoir that shows the reader what it feels like to lose your future in a matter of seconds in a faraway land . . . Shannon learns to travel on, to get back in the ocean and to build a new life' Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love

'Gloriously rendered, beautifully written, but utterly devastating . . . an intimate and inspiring experience . . . balm to the soul, as well as being a necessary witness account of the blackest depths of grief' Viv Groskop, Observer

In the summer of 2002, Shannon Leone Fowler was backpacking with her fiancé Sean in Thailand. The couple were planning to return home after their excursion to the island of Koh Pha Ngan but their plans were devastated when a box jellyfish - the most venomous animal in the world - wrapped itself around Sean's legs, stinging and killing him in minutes. Rejecting the Thai authorities' attempt to label Sean's death as 'drunk drowning', Shannon accompanied his body home to his stunned family - a family to which she suddenly no longer belonged.

Shattered, untethered and alone, Shannon set out on a journey to make sense of her loss. From contemplating the silence of Auschwitz to learning the rules for sitting shiva amid daily bombings in Israel, to finding humour and creativity in Sarajevo, a city still scarred by the recent war, Shannon charts a path through sorrow towards recovery.

Traveling with Ghosts is a beautiful memorial to love and an intensely personal account of learning to live with grief. It is the story of a brave journey towards survival.