A gorgeous debut.J ulia Armfield’s first book, a collection of stories called Salt Slow, set out a method. I loved this book.' - Sarah Waters, author of Tipping the Velvet 'A wonderful novel, deeply romantic and fabulously strange. We are lucky for it.' - Kristen Arnett, author of With Teeth and Mostly Dead Things It's not only art, it's a perfect miracle. 'Without a doubt, Our Wives Under the Sea is one of the best books I've ever read. 'Sublimely gorgeous…Readers are treated to a stunning love story about a couple trying to make sense of their new unfamiliar situation, while also learning about what happened to Leah on the ocean floor. Told in stunning language, Armfield's heartrending story of two people forced apart by trauma is enough.' - Library Journal 'A turn toward horror at the end will satisfyingly rachet up the tension for some readers but may discomfit others.

The bleakest horror story can also be a love story Armfield deftly illustrates how.' - Kirkus (starred review) Launching her book with epigraphs from both Moby-Dick and Jaws, Armfield guides the reader through the liminal spaces in the couple's lives and approaches them with an occasionally ironic humor. 'What happens to a marriage when one spouse is no longer the person you married?. This is mesmerizing.' - Publishers Weekly (starred review) Lovecraft, and the film Altered States, Armfield anchors the shudder-producing tale in authentic marine science and a deep understanding of human nature. 'Armfield follows her collection, salt slow, with a moody and intimate debut novel, both a portrait of a marriage and a subtle horror fantasy.With echoes of Jules Verne, Thor Heyerdahl (whose work inspired Leah), H.P. As Miri searches for answers, desperate to understand what happened below the water, she must face the possibility that the woman she loves is slipping from her grasp.īy turns elegiac and furious, wry and heartbreaking, Our Wives Under the Sea is an exploration of the unknowable depths within each of us, and the love that compels us nevertheless toward one another. Whatever happened in that vessel, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded, Leah has carried part of it with her, onto dry land and into their home. Barely eating and lost in her thoughts, Leah rotates between rooms in their apartment, running the taps morning and night.

When she finally surfaces and returns home, her wife Miri knows that something is wrong. A marine biologist, she left for a routine expedition months earlier, only this time her submarine sank to the sea floor. Fathomlessly inventive and original, Julia Armfield's Our Wives Under the Sea is a portrait of marriage as we've never seen it before.

The wives under the sea