Our Wives Under the Sea
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR (NPR, The Washington Post, Lit Hub, The Telegraph, Goodreads, Tor.com, them, and more)
A FINALIST for the LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD and GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD
“A deeply strange and haunting novel in the best possible way…An impressive and exciting debut novel that may leave you thinking about your own relationships in a new light.” —NPR
“Shocking…Achingly poetic…Sharp and beautiful as coral polyps…Armfield exercises an exquisite—even sadistic—sense of suspense." —Ron Charles, The Washington Post
Leah is changed. A marine biologist, she left for a routine expedition months earlier, only this time her submarine sank to the sea floor. When she finally surfaces and returns home, her wife Miri knows that something is wrong. Barely eating and lost in her thoughts, Leah rotates between rooms in their apartment, running the taps morning and night. 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. 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.
By 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.
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Community Reviews
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Leah embarks on a three week submarine voyage that ends with her missing for six monthsâ¦only to return as a version of herself thatâs alarmingly different than who she used to be. Her wife, Miri, is left to figure out what went wrong and how to help Leah return to normalcy.
When I initially finished this book, I had it slotted as a 4 star read: really entertaining sapphic horror, but not necessarily standout. The more I thought about it before going to sleep that night, though, I kept thinking about what happened to Leah and how helpless Miri felt and how heartbreaking the ending wasâ¦and soon enough, those four stars solidified as five.
I always appreciate a trauma metaphor, and this book functions beautifully as one. Despite the mystery of what happened to Leahâs submarine crew being the most outwardly scary part of the story, watching how out of control both women feel in the aftermath of an experience that doesnât make sense was absolutely terrifying. And as much as Miri tries to tether Leah back to real lifeâand their marriageâeach attempt seems to seep through her fingers, like water through a crack that canât be filled.
Highly recommend this one!!
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