"I'm not drowning, I'm waving" is what I want on my tombstone. This book would agree.

Lyrical is an overused book review word, right? But what if you could tattoo a feeling on your body. What if a book was a song. What if what if what if more books were like this one? Things would be better.

I raced through Julia Armfield’s short story collection, Salt Slow, in 2020. So when buzz began to build around her debut novel, the fantastically titled Our Wives Under the Sea, I had incredibly high hopes. I am delighted to confirm that this gorgeous book exceeded all my expectations.

Our Wives Under the Sea is the story of a couple, told in alternating chapters. Leah tells a story of claustrophobic horror, an exploratory dive gone horrible wrong. Miri shares how Leah returns from the incident an understandably different person.

Armfield’s prose is literally breathtaking. The contrasting chapters really work. Leah is the scientific type; fact-driven with sparse descriptions. Miri focuses on the range of emotions that come with caring for a loved one who, through no fault or their own, changes mentally or physically; the guilt, the resentment, the overwhelming myriad of emotions is captured beautifully.

And if that wasn’t enough, the story alone is one of the most intriguing I’ve read in a long time. Armfield creates a real sense of unease, and the reader is never completely sure what is real or not. Like all truly unsettling novels, some things are never really explained. I’m still thinking about it weeks later.

Armfield’s prose is literally breathtaking. The contrasting chapters really work. Leah is the scientific type; fact-driven with sparse descriptions. Miri focuses on the range of emotions that come with caring for a loved one who, through no fault or their own, changes mentally or physically; the guilt, the resentment, the overwhelming myriad of emotions is captured beautifully.

My personal recommendation is, and please forgive the pun, to take an afternoon to completely immerse yourself in this story. Our Wives Under the Sea is as close to a perfect novel as it can get. I can absolutely see myself re-reading this whenever I get the chance. Put this on your wishlist right now.