Suzanne Heywood Was 6 When Her Dad Decided They Would Sail Around The World. She Was Trapped On The Boat For Nearly A Decade

We all remember the Netflix hit Adolescence. Jack Thorn, the writer of Adolescence is adapting the incredible story of Suzanne Heywood into a new 4 part series.

Suzanne is an author, a business leader, and child survivor of an extraordinary and scary life at sea. Suzanne spent nearly a decade (ages 7 to 17) living on board her parents’ boat Wavewalker, following her father’s dream of recreating Captain Cook’s third voyage. But, what was meant to be a three year family adventure actually became a childhood of captivity. 

Suzanne was isolated, unable to receive a proper education and at one point she spent weeks with a fractured skull that required multiple operations without anaesthesia on a tiny remote island. Suzanne survived shipwrecks, emotional neglect from her parents, and eventually battled her way to Oxford and a career at Cambridge. 

Today we talk about:

• Suzanne’s childhood in captivity on the boat
• How life at sea felt like a cult
• The neglect and ‘jealousy’ of her mother
• Having multiple surgeries for her fractured skull on a remote island without anaesthesia
• Suzanne’s determination to get an education
• Being abandoned at 16 in New Zealand without a visa and their attempts to deport her
• Her relationship with her parents now
• No authorities intervening and why we should question these situations when kids are involved

 

You can get a copy of Wavewalker from Suzanne’s website 

You can find Suzanne on Instagram 

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