The clock on the wall may tick away while the calendar marks the passage of days, but our psychological experience of time does not necessarily mirror the tools we use to measure it. As author Shea Ernshaw suggests, "Time is a slippery thing."

Ernshaw’s latest novel, Habits of the Sea, explores time perception and memory, and how unforgettable people and places pull us to redefine home.

Time can be understood as a mental construct of our reality, helping us to organize our life’s experiences. While our daily lives unfold continuously, when we reflect on the past we tend to remember experiences as distinct and cohesive events, like chapters in a novel (Clewett et al., 2019).

An external sense of place and our internal emotional experiences both play a critical role in shaping our memories (Cohn-Sheehy & Ranganath, 2017). When we recall events from our past, we might "see" ourselves in that place, with all of the emotions contained in that moment flooding us once again.

For Ernshaw, bending the rules of time in Habits of the Sea offered an opportunity to explore what happens when we courageously step into the unfamiliar.

Q: Share a bit about your background and what inspired you to write Habits of the Sea.

Shea Ernshaw: My ancestors were part of the Watson clan from Cellardyke, a small fishing village in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. In 1871 they crossed the Atlantic and settled in Canada, where much of my family still lives today. Growing up, my mother shared the stories told to her by her grandmother, Zetta Watson, and they have always lived in the background of my imagination. I wondered what it must have felt like to stand at the edge of the sea, in a country that was all........

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