Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (2022) – ADULT FICTION
I chose this book for a Spooky Season read not because it’s full of gore or jump scares, but because it’s a slow-burn psychological suspense that examines grief, the unknown, and what lies at the bottom of our deepest, darkest fears of self and our most closely-held relationships. Julia Armfield’s debut novel dives into the murky waters of loss when Miri’s marine-biologist wife comes back “wrong” from a deep-water dive that, while it was supposed to last only three weeks, lasts six months. What did Leah see down there? What did she experience? Through sparse dialogue and clawing mental introspection, Miri realizes she said goodbye to her wife long before she ever resurfaces, that Leah – even though she’s corporeal (or is she?) – is still missing because something down there broke a vital part of herself. The novel switches perspectives periodically, moving from Miri’s to Leah’s voice, and the two women’s experiences slowly slip together and leave the reader wondering whether it was imagined or just so fragile that it slipped through Miri’s fingers and out to sea.
This review first appeared in the October 2024 print edition of Out in Wichita. Click here to see the review in print.
shelly. walston. writes. 