Our Wives Under the Sea is a literary horror story about Leah and her wife, Miri. Leah has loved the ocean ever since she was a child, and now works as a marine biologist for a mysterious Centre. Miri is quite used to Leah’s deep water research missions, but when something horrible happens during Leah’s latest trip, Miri realizes that there’s something very wrong with her wife. Told in alternating narratives of the two women, this novel is a gorgeous and haunting story about love and grief.

I don’t think that I can accurately describe how much I adored this book. It’s very short but it took me on a true rollercoaster of emotions; underneath the layer of horror and magic realism, it’s a beautiful story about loss, heartbreak, but also devotion and strength. The relationship between Leah and Miri feels so real and intimate that it simply took my breath away, and I think that even people who have no experience with sapphic relationships can find things to relate to. It’s a rather slower paced novel and the double narrative worked perfectly, slowly unfolding the mystery of Leah’s condition piece by piece.

TLDR: Our Wives Under the Sea is a stunning, melancholic and tender novel that dresses up very universal experiences in a surreal, unsettling atmosphere. Exquisite!

After Leah disappears on a deep sea research trip, she returns home changed. She keeps leaving behind a mysterious residue in the bathtub, her water bill is skyrocketing, and her wife Miri can’t help but feel that she’s more emotionally distant.

Miri desperately searches for answers as she feels Leah slipping away from her.

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield is a Lovecraftian and beautifully haunting portrait about loss and dealing with an estranged loved one. In fact, it did remind me quite a bit thematically of Thomas Olde Heuvelt’s Echo in the best possible way.

This book first caught my attention because I heard it was recommended by Florence Welch, and it did not disappoint.

Despite the supernatural undercurrent, this story feels grounded. The characters reactions feel believable. This is definitely a character study, and there’s something so natural and flawed about the two women’s relationship that this book honestly has one of my favorite depictions of a f/f relationship in an adult sci-f novel.

As a disclaimer though, there are questions that are left unanswered and left up to the reader’s imagination, but I didn’t personally mind since a huge part of cosmic horror deals in the unknowable.

All in all, this is an utterly gripping and immersive book that pulled me out of a reading dry spell after so many other new releases had let me down.

Thank you, NetGalley and Flatiron Books, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Underwater horror? Aw yes. It's hard to believe that this a debut novel, honestly. When I read the synopsis, it reminded me of The Season of Passage by Christopher Pike, which freaked me out so badly as a teenager. It's the idea of going somewhere remote or exotic and bringing something bad back with you, which is what happens in this book. Something has happened to Leah since their deep sea mission and this story is somehow the intimacy of a partnership within the confines of a horror novel, which is interesting, and the writing is more lyrical than you would expect from a book like this. It's slow but fascinating.

Wow, what an amazing novel! Leah and Miri are married and tell this story from their alternating perspective. Leah has gone to sea and been stuck in a submarine for six months. In her chapters we get glimpses into what happens when her and two other crew members were stuck at the bottom of the ocean. In Miri's chapters, we're brought up to speed on the history of their relationship and the present day situation. Leah has returned, but she is not herself.

This book was all the things that I love in a novel. A very human and romantic love story, amazing writing, and a bit of horror/sci-fi. Julia Armfield pulled this story off wonderfully and it will certainly be a favorite read of mine for the year. I loved her use of ambiguity throughout and was completely engrossed in this book.

I requested this because I loved Julia Armfield's short story collection SALT SLOW.

OUR WIVES UNDER THE SEA was beautiful and haunting but I think I prefer her short stories. This moved a little too slow for me; it took me forever to read because I kept putting it down and getting distracted and forgetting about it.

It's beautifully written and Armfield is such a talented writer—my rating and feedback are truly personal preference—but be prepared for the slower pace and lyrical writing of this one—as well as a more-vibes-than-plot type of book.

I found this slim book really beautifully haunting. It’s a strange story, with spare writing, told from both wives point of view. Miri who was left behind, and Leah, who is gone so long, suffers real trauma and comes back changed. I know this doesn’t cheerful (and it really isn’t), but it really spoke to me about the ‘sickness’ and ‘for worse’ parts of marriage vows, about end of life care, and truly being there for someone you love, and the loneliness of how that can feel. Weirdly affecting, I’ll keep thinking about this for a while.

Loved this wonderfully weird book! A woman goes on a deep sea research trip and their submarine sinks to the bottom of the ocean. She comes back... changed... and her wife attempts to take care of her. This book was subtly eerie and I love how the author built up the dread. This won't be for everyone but it was certainly for me.

gorgeously written prose, definitely a slow build but once the information starts getting slowly revealed it becomes a haunting story reminiscent of a folktale. really enjoyed this one but definitely have to be in the headspace to absorb the slow pace.

What did I even just read?
This book is 90% vibes, 10% plot. Normally that's not my type of book but I think I loved this? It's a whole mess of juxtapositions. Leah's perspective from under the sea is dull but creepy both in that dullness and all on its own at the same time. Miri's perspective was heavy with boring details of daily existence but had deeply unsettling moments blended in. The ratio of unsettling components grows and grows until the resolution, if you can call it that, which is horrifying and also bizarrely peaceful. The book feels slow but fast. I can't even say what I would compare it to without spoiling it. I think this will be something that prompts strong reactions, both negative and positive, from its readers. I don't think there will be many people in the middle.
I need someone to discuss this with.
CW: body horror
Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

This was a unique read. The main character is a researcher on a submarine that loses control and stays underwater for many months. When she returns to flat land things aren't quite right. Addicted to salt and baths with no appetite, her wife frets while the story goes back in time to before the wife came back. Beautifully written with themes of attraction and solitude and metamorphosis.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

What an absolutely incredible debut! I'm not just saying that because one of the POVs has the same name as me, but, egotistically, Leah may have been my favorite character. I just really dug her POV. The dynamics between Miri and her was really fascinating, and I was so very intrigued from start to finish. There are definitely some horrific, disturbing aspects of this story, but not overly so. Highly recommend!

Going into this book blind, I had no idea this book just under 250 pages would be so impactful.

A harrowing speculative fiction love story that is told from the sides of each wife. As one becomes very cold and distant after her trip as a marine biologist. What could be the reason and is there a reason for the distance?

In Our Wives Under the Sea, Lea, a marine scientist, ends up on the ocean floor for months longer than expected after a research trip gone horribly wrong. Miri tries desperately to find out what has happened with very little answers. One day, Lea is back, but she is different. What follows is an eerie, quiet, unraveling.

I'm not sure what genre this is. I saw another reader describe it as like a Grimms' Fairy Tale and that feels right. We very slowly learn what happened on that ocean floor and how it is literally changing Lea. It's about loss, grief, and when to let go. Read this if you are looking for an atmospheric and short albeit sometimes slower read. I'm very glad I gave it a read.

***3.5 Stars On My Instagram Account***

"There's a difference between understanding and forgiving."

Our Wives Under The Sea by lyrically poignant author Julia Armfield broke my heart while confusing my mind. Just like the dual POVs I felt like I was reading (and hearing) two different versions of the same story.

Mira and Leah are barely holding on as a married couple, let alone their own sanity, when we meet them. Through Mira we learn how the couple met and fell in love and how when Leah left for a three person research mission in a submarine for a month she became overwhelmed with grief when Leah is gone for six months and presumes her to be dead.

Through Leah we learn about the claustrophobic horror of being trapped in a submarine at the bottom of the totally black lifeless sea hearing haunting sounds and seeing disfiguring bodies. Her mind must be slipping from reality because what she hears and sees can't be real.

When Leah is rescued Mira sees Leah is different and seems to be slipping away from her. She spends all her time with the tap water on, in the bath or listening to a sound machine's unworldly noises. There is no more talking, love making or connection.

I was blown away with the intense performances by narrators Robyn Holdaway and Annabel Baldwin. I felt the fears, grief and loss of these characters.

There is so much left open to interpretation and it is definitely perfect for book club discussions. I wasn't sure at times if it was a horror thriller, literary fiction, or an atmospheric gothic tale of losing oneself. The author wrote with such lilting beautiful prose and I was swept away by her imagination and her ability to tell a poignant love story while giving me creepy scary goosebumps. Definitely an original body of work.

I received a free copy of this book and audiobook from the publishers via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Written in a haunting style with an omniscient future pov and an “idk-what’s-coming-so-I’m-happy-for-now” pov is so jarring. I think larger events aside, this book at its center is about navigating a relationship when there’s trauma that can’t be shared or understood in a way that is needed. It’s about learning how to be, in a way that honors what you were but is good for who you are.

I will say it moved a little slow and I was definitely confused at times. But overall, there’s something eerie about it that kept me reading.

This book was so unexpected. I wasn't sure what it was going to be as I started reading it, and from some hints I kept wondering when certain things would happen. I thought it could go in a straightforward route, or more to the horror genre. I think it did a nice little blend. The women were fascinating, revisiting their lives and the bizarre journey they had to go on together was wonderful. I kept wanting to find out what was going on, and that just made every moment a treat.

I will say that I thought some of the language was bizarre. There seemed to be a microaggression that I couldn't tell if the author felt was intentional or not, and one of the main characters felt a bit flat. We were told we should feel sad for her, but I found her a bit of a question mark.

I will start by saying I read Our Wives Under The Sea in basically one sitting. It was captivating from the perspective of looking at a relationship from each partner's eyes. I have a feeling the author had a metaphor in mind with the "horror" aspect of Leah's journey under the sea. However, I didn't care for it. If a writer has a metaphor in mind, I want to be able to figure out what it is trying to say. In the case of Our Wives Under The Sea, all I can come up with through Leah's side of the story was so high level and simple that I surely can't be right. If I am, then none of the "under the sea" imagery was even necessary. I was hoping for a horror story with a side of character/relationship study from the description. What I got was a relationship study, but very little interesting about the horror....it was too slow and the ending of it was almost a copout in that nothing was explained, at least not to my satisfaction.

So I settled on 3 stars because I enjoyed the relationship aspect of the two narrators, but overall, I really didn't like the "horror" part of the story.

After a deep-sea excursion that ended in tragedy, Miri is relieved and happy to finally have her wife Leah back at home. However, Miri begins to realize that this is not “her Leah” the Leah who has returned has changed, whatever happened under the sea has stayed with her. Miri tries to move on with their regular life despite Leah’s odd behavior: running the water taps day and night, being locked up in the bathroom sitting in the bath for hours, and hardly eating. Day by day Miri is slowly coming to the realization that the Leah she once knew may be gone forever.

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This was a very strange and eerie book. The writing was hauntingly beautiful and used the setting and plot line to describe grief, love and loss in a unique way. I really enjoyed the writing in this one, The plot was interesting and the story contained so many different aspect such as romance, horror and science fiction. I would not consider this a fast-paced horror story more so I’m the process of grief of loss but in this situation under very peculiar circumstances. I can see this one not being everyone’s cup of tea but for me, I really enjoyed the oddity of it, and it has long stayed with me after I finished it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This title is now available for purchase!

"Our Wives Under the Sea" by Julia Armfield was a unique, quirky, interesting novel about a deep submarine dive going very wrong. I loved the dedication, tolerance and love between the two main characters, and very much appreciated the subtle development of the aftermath affects and demise. Overall creative and well developed. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the copy for review. All opinions are my own.

This was a very dense story that was distracting at times with the level of detail. The slow pace made it hard to focus and was ultimately a DNF for me. This one was not for me but I hope others enjoy!