Book Review: Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

‘Our Wives Under The Sea’ by Julia Armfield was released in 2022. It was her debut novel and follows the story of Miri and her wife, Leah, a marine biologist, whose voyage beneath the waves that was expected to take three weeks lasted six months. The after effects of Leah’s absence are more than Miri had ever anticipated.

This book was heartbreaking. It truly shattered me into splinters, exploring the themes of absence, sickness and what it means to love and lose. Can you grieve something before you lose it? Is the loss of someone’s life as they knew it to a degenerative disorder something to mourn?

I loved the use of metaphors and imagery, comparing Miri’s mother’s illness, which is implied to be dementia, to the vacancy left in Leah’s wake after her time at sea. Armfield’s use of imagery and description, particularly when describing Leah’s physical deterioration post-expidition was repulsive, and thus, immensely fit for purpose. It made my skin crawl in the best way! I particularly liked how in Miri’s narratives, she acknowledges the layers of pink that she scrubbed off the rims of the bath, and when the penny drops it drops like a lead balloon. I loved it!

I ached for these characters, they were portrayed with such weight and understanding and nuance, it was phenomenal. Armfield has great control of language and her use of anecdotes and perspective was brilliant, with the use of reflection and hindsight to strengthen the sense of absence and loss in the transition between Leah being at sea and her return, where she is back, but not the same. It was very compelling and evocative.

I would definitely recommend this book, it is filled with yearning, suffering, and anguish. It epitomises the scope of feeling when you’re physically or emotionally trapped in a situation and the lengths we go to as human beings to return to those we love. Despite our pain. Even if just momentarily.