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Good Reading : March 2017
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BEHIND THE BOOK 2 Solace & Solac Marine biolo Marine biologist SHANNON LEONE FOWLER was embracing her fiancé, Sean, in the ocean off the coast of Thailand when a box jellyfish stung and killed him. Thai authorities tried to dismiss his death as a drunk drowning. Traveling with Ghosts follows the months Shannon spent on a strange trajectory through Eastern Europe, fleeing from the ocean and from grief. She tells us how her memoir came to be, 14 years after Sean’s death. M y grandpa was a physical oceanographer at Scripps Institution in San Diego, California. Growing up, I spent summers on the beach there, and he taught me about rip currents, spring tides and undertows. But I was always drawn to the animals in the sea. My favourite thing as a child was exploring the tiny creatures in rocky Pacific tide pools, and I decided to be a marine biologist when I was eight years old. I studied biology at UC San Diego and marine sciences in Sydney during my junior year abroad. After graduating, I taught scuba diving and travelled – I met the man who would come to be my fiancé, Sean, while I was backpacking through Barcelona – before going back to school. My PhD was on the development of diving in Australian sea lions. My field site was on Kangaroo Island, and I studied over 50 pups from birth until they were 48 GOOD READING MARCH 2017 two years old. I found that young sea lions were learning to dive on their own and hunting in different areas from their mothers, which is crucial for fisheries management. I was halfway through my PhD when Sean died. He was hilarious and generous to a fault. Even when he was broke, he’d be the one buying all his mates drinks, or paying for dinner out with his folks. He was sexy without knowing it, spontaneous, affectionate, considerate, loyal, honest, flirtatious and silly. He could be stubborn and brash and a little jealous. But 14 years after his death, I still wonder what could have been. I miss him every day. After he died, everything changed. I couldn’t be near the coast for years and didn’t touch the ocean until the first anniversary of his death. Although I did return to marine biology, it GOODREADINGMAGAZINE.COM.AU Solace Solace &Solace &S ace &ce &
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