Our Wives Under the Sea
Author: Julia Armfield
Published by: Picador
Pages: 232
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★
Author: Julia Armfield
Published by: Picador
Pages: 232
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★
Miri thinks she has got her wife back when Leah finally returns after a deep-sea mission that ended in catastrophe. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah may have come back wrong. Whatever happened in that vessel, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has carried part of it with her, onto dry land and into their home.
To have the woman she loves back should mean a return to normal life, but Miri can feel Leah slipping from her grasp. Memories of what they had before - the jokes they shared, the films they watched, all the small things that made Leah hers - only remind Miri of what she stands to lose. Living in the same space but suddenly separate, Miri comes to realize that the life that they had might be gone.
To have the woman she loves back should mean a return to normal life, but Miri can feel Leah slipping from her grasp. Memories of what they had before - the jokes they shared, the films they watched, all the small things that made Leah hers - only remind Miri of what she stands to lose. Living in the same space but suddenly separate, Miri comes to realize that the life that they had might be gone.
My thoughts:
Julia Armfield’s debut novel is a haunting mystical masterpiece. Our Wives Under the Sea is an introspective, hypnotic tale of love and loss.
The novel features a dual-perspective narrative that follows both Miri and her wife, Leah. Miri’s chapters narrate Leah’s return from a deep-sea mission that culminated in tragedy and unanswered questions, leaving Leah missing for months.
This is such a close and claustrophobic piece of writing, in which the sense of entrapment on a deep-sea vessel under the ocean is mirrored by the intimate relationship of Miri and Leah confined to their flat, both places surrounded by strange noises and a sense of alienation.
Although Miri has Leah back now, Leah is not the woman Miri married. With the events of Leah’s mission shrouded in mystery, Miri only knows that whatever Leah encountered while she was stranded on the ocean floor, she’s brought some of it back with her. As Leah begins to change, and as Miri attempts to hold onto the shreds of their normal life together, it becomes more and more clear that this may be something the two women can never come back from.
Our Wives Under the Sea is an introspective, hypnotic tale of love and loss. Perhaps what really sets this book apart to me it its sense of depth and layering. Although this does make the story feel quite slow at times, readers can feel a building sense of apprehension and dread as the story quietly unfolds. Both the submarine, and Miri and Leah’s flat are continuously surrounded by a lapping dark, and this is a story that will get under your skin. I loved how the pages seemed to move fluidly between a grotesque horror story and heart-breaking love story. But it is also very much about growing apart after a lifechanging experience which you can never completely share.
All in all, Armfield’s debut novel is a contemporary gothic horror that links a love between two women with a love for the sea. This is a powerful, beautifully written literary fiction. The most unsettling horror element for me was the way the details were strange and subtle enough to make it feel real. What a strange, unsettling, fascinating book. I loved it.
Overall reaction:
Julia Armfield’s debut novel is a haunting mystical masterpiece. Our Wives Under the Sea is an introspective, hypnotic tale of love and loss.
The novel features a dual-perspective narrative that follows both Miri and her wife, Leah. Miri’s chapters narrate Leah’s return from a deep-sea mission that culminated in tragedy and unanswered questions, leaving Leah missing for months.
This is such a close and claustrophobic piece of writing, in which the sense of entrapment on a deep-sea vessel under the ocean is mirrored by the intimate relationship of Miri and Leah confined to their flat, both places surrounded by strange noises and a sense of alienation.
Although Miri has Leah back now, Leah is not the woman Miri married. With the events of Leah’s mission shrouded in mystery, Miri only knows that whatever Leah encountered while she was stranded on the ocean floor, she’s brought some of it back with her. As Leah begins to change, and as Miri attempts to hold onto the shreds of their normal life together, it becomes more and more clear that this may be something the two women can never come back from.
Our Wives Under the Sea is an introspective, hypnotic tale of love and loss. Perhaps what really sets this book apart to me it its sense of depth and layering. Although this does make the story feel quite slow at times, readers can feel a building sense of apprehension and dread as the story quietly unfolds. Both the submarine, and Miri and Leah’s flat are continuously surrounded by a lapping dark, and this is a story that will get under your skin. I loved how the pages seemed to move fluidly between a grotesque horror story and heart-breaking love story. But it is also very much about growing apart after a lifechanging experience which you can never completely share.
All in all, Armfield’s debut novel is a contemporary gothic horror that links a love between two women with a love for the sea. This is a powerful, beautifully written literary fiction. The most unsettling horror element for me was the way the details were strange and subtle enough to make it feel real. What a strange, unsettling, fascinating book. I loved it.
Overall reaction: