Julia Armfield’s Our Wives Under the Sea explores a dream-like meditation of the grief and loss brought on by loving someone so much. Though this was a lot to swallow, Armfield’s use of an overarching metaphor and loose threads within the plot captures the yearning for the person one loves while they slowly, and inevitably, slip from one’s grasp.

Miri, one of the novels’ main narrator, struggles to see her wife, Leah, drift further and further away from reality, as she paces their apartment and deteriorates physically and mentally. Leah, a marine biologist, had undergone a month’s-long deep sea expedition that ultimately left her and her team stranded thousands of feet under the sea with no communication. The novel takes place after Leah resurfaces and gradually unfolds her experience in a submarine encapsulated by darkness.

Miri watches as Leah submerges herself day after day in the bathtub, filled with salty water. Her skin begins to resemble that of a fish, iridescent and nearly transparent. She bleeds from her pores and drowns in the water that excretes from her skin. These elements of eeriness and unsettling imagery that Armfield embeds in Leah’s physical appearance express the intimate nature of loss and Miri’s uncertainty about what is happening to her partner, creating significant mental distress in her.

While unfolding Leah’s progression into the embodiment of the sea, Armfield also captures Miri’s unraveling grief of not knowing whether her marriage will stay alive. Finding no comfort in talking to her friends or the relatives of Leah’s old team, Miri begins to seek comfort in online chats amongst women, but finds that to be a failure as well.

Ultimately, Miri finds the strength to let go of Leah. She embraces her grief and accepts that her marriage with Leah is over, as Leah’s spongy and slippery skin, sinks from Miri’s arms and into the ocean’s depths. This bittersweet ending, though heartbreaking, was greatly nuanced as it embraced what love looks like when the reality that surrounds it is painful and unfulfilling. Though Leah had lost her sense of humanity, she never lost her peace.

This novel was definitely a hard read, but I appreciated this very different perspective on what grief and loss can look like and the horror of the unknown. I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who is looking to steer away from predictable literature or a fan of slow-burn novels.

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield is available to download for free from Libby.