I loved it the way I loved Salt Slow, Armfield’s first short story collection – and the way I always hoped I’d love the novel that came after it. It isn’t every day that a book’s mere existence can invade your brain and spark ‘grabby hand’ motions – so they are books to cherish. The moment I overheard the words Julia Armfield and novel in the same sentence I nearly shook my friend for answers. Visceral is the word I’d underline for it. Though delicate feels too airy a word for the book as a whole. Exploring both the metaphorical and physical ‘sinking’ with such care and delicacy. Our Wives is, through and through, a book about grief. 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. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah may have come back wrong. Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep-sea mission that ended in catastrophe. Our Wives Under the Sea is a quiet masterpiece and, having just finished it, I am lost for all coherent words to describe it … so let’s start with its synopsis and go from there: I can’t review work like this without talking in circles and gushing endlessly, so apologies in advance for how little sense this review will make. I want to explain her in a way that would make you love her …
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