Review: Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

Blurb:

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.

My thoughts:

Our Wives Under the Sea is a beautifully chilling horror story following Leah and Miri’s relationship after Leah returns from a calamitous journey to the bottom of the ocean.

During the book we get flashbacks to Leah’s extensive time on the submarine after it gets stuck for six months with no idea when she or her stranded crew will return home. The author manages to create an eerie atmosphere as Leah uncovers what is lurking in the water. The horror elements were subtle but creepy, without being too much or forced.

The writing style in this novel was stunning and engrossing. While not the longest book in the world – at 240 pages – you could slip into the plot and finish it in a day. It’s so immersive and intriguing to find out what really happened to Leah. The book is filled with beautiful metaphors from the women’s happier days to the darker more depressing days of their relationship.

While Leah appears to be a completely different person in the present day, we do get a glimpse of what she was like when Miri first met her through flashbacks from Leah’s perspective at the start of her journey in the vessel, as well as flashbacks from Miri’s point-of-view. Miri tells their love story about how the women met and how they grew together over time. In some ways, it’s heart-rendering because we learn early on that their relationship has changed due to Leah’s return from her unsuccessful mission. But it’s also a nice way to break up the plot from the darker themes.

Miri is a very likeable character. She’s patient, kind and has the best intentions. It can’t have been easy to witness her loved one struggle so much in a way that no one would truly understand other than those who went on the deep sea exploration.

The setting was great. The creepiness of the dark, silent water makes for a perfect backdrop to a spine-chilling story. But what is most fascinating is how among the nightmare, it showed Leah to be most herself in the water. The flashbacks from sea to land, where she struggled to cope after the mission intensified this.

At one point, Miri believes Leah may never return from her mission and it was interesting to see her explore and try to find other people who may have been in a similar circumstance. You always hear of families learning of an ill-fated military operation or missing people but it’s not so common to know about people who have gone missing for months in the sea. I liked how she found support groups and other like minded people who had experienced similar things. And how some people tend to hyperbolise a situation rather than be positive – which is again a great example of how the author naturally writes humans. It was interesting to have an insight into a world that’s quite unknown to a lot of people as well.

This book is emotional, sad and all-consuming but not one that should be missed. It’s a love story amidst a terrible situation – one that’s captivating and devastating at the same time, focussing on loss, love and new beginnings.