Our Wives Under the Sea
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR (NPR, The Washington Post, Lit Hub, The Telegraph, Goodreads, Tor.com, them, and more)
A FINALIST for the LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD and GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD
“A deeply strange and haunting novel in the best possible way…An impressive and exciting debut novel that may leave you thinking about your own relationships in a new light.” —NPR
“Shocking…Achingly poetic…Sharp and beautiful as coral polyps…Armfield exercises an exquisite—even sadistic—sense of suspense." —Ron Charles, The Washington Post
Leah is changed. A marine biologist, she left for a routine expedition months earlier, only this time her submarine sank to the sea floor. When she finally surfaces and returns home, her wife Miri knows that something is wrong. Barely eating and lost in her thoughts, Leah rotates between rooms in their apartment, running the taps morning and night. Whatever happened in that vessel, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded, Leah has carried part of it with her, onto dry land and into their home. As Miri searches for answers, desperate to understand what happened below the water, she must face the possibility that the woman she loves is slipping from her grasp.
By turns elegiac and furious, wry and heartbreaking, Our Wives Under the Sea is an exploration of the unknowable depths within each of us, and the love that compels us nevertheless toward one another.
- Pages
- 240
- First published
- July 12, 2022
- Language
- English
- Edition
- Ebook
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Shelved by 10 Litcadians
Reviews
Finished June 29, 2026
*✨ 2 stars ✨* Our Wives Under the Sea is a haunting story about love, grief, and watching someone you love slowly become a stranger. After Leah returns from a deep-sea mission gone wrong, it's clear she didn't come back alone—something changed beneath the ocean, and part of it followed her home. This is less about monsters and more about the quiet horror of helplessness and loss. It's slow, atmospheric, and emotionally devastating, leaving you with far more feelings than answers. I so wanted to love this based on the synopsis, and even though I see the goal of the story, the execution left me wanting more from both the characters and the plot. I would even go as far as to say that jumping back and forth between the POVs took me out of the atmosphere. I think it could have worked better—and been much more mysterious and eerie—if we had only followed Miri's present-day POV throughout the book, with Leah's expedition and experience revealed at the end. Also, I love beautifully written books as much as the next person, but here it felt like the flowery prose overpowered the characters and the story itself. There were so many beautiful passages, but I wanted the emotional connection to the characters to be just as strong. And honestly, the characters left me wanting more. They didn't feel distinct enough from one another to truly stand out or capture my heart, which made it harder for me to fully connect with everything they were going through. Again, the idea is amazing, the writing is beautiful, and I genuinely wanted to keep reading to find out what happened. I just wish I had connected more with the characters and felt more immersed in the story itself, because the premise had so much potential. [Find my reviews on Bookstagram🫶🏻](https://www.instagram.com/literarily_laurynn?igsh=aTh6eTZ6dGwxMXpy&utm_source=qr)
Started February 20, 2026 · Finished February 22, 2026
I have complicated feelings about this book. On the one hand, I think it handles grief and the inability to let go in a realistic way. On the other hand, there are so many questions left unanswered and a vast disconnect between our characters. I almost wish more of the story had been told from Leah’s POV and that she’d been more reliable of a narrator because her parts felt very…Markiplier’s film adaptation of “Iron Lung” to me. Especially her final few chapters. Miri’s POV just kind of frustrated me. Loved the ocean facts though. Big fan of the Deep Sea and the mystery of whatever the fuck’s really going on down there.
Finished June 8, 2025
Finished January 20, 2025
“My heart is a thin thing, these days - shreds of paper blown between the spaces in my ribs.” Our Wives Under the Sea is a haunting, heartbreaking exploration of loss and grief. The story delves deep into the emotional toll of losing someone, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, and it’s handled with poignant sensitivity. The pacing is slow at times, with not much happening on the surface, but that’s part of what makes it so compelling. The quiet, reflective moments allow the story to flow naturally, creating an atmosphere that pulled me in. It’s about more than just the plot.. it’s the emotions, the lingering pain, and the eerie sense of something just out of reach that make it so impactful. The narrative worked well and left a lasting impression. I was deeply moved by it, and I know it will stay with me for a long time.
Finished May 11, 2026