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2023 Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize (shortlist)
2023 Polari Prize for Best Book
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.
Genre: Literary Fiction
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.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Without a doubt, Our Wives Under the Sea is one of the best books I've ever read. It's not only art, it's a perfect miracle. We are lucky for it." - Kristen Arnett
"I was entirely captivated by this book. A gorgeous debut." - Jami Attenberg
"Tender, strange, lucid, and so assured. If you love sci-fi or love stories or books that defy labels or chew-your-arm-off good writing, this is for you." - Kiran Millwood Hargrave
"Spooky and romantic: a gorgeous novel that gets under your skin. Armfield leads you softly through a story that feels epic and intimate at the same time." - Sarvat Hasin
"Delicate and horrifying, Our Wives Under The Sea is a darkly brilliant novel that submerges the reader's imagination in the depths of the unknown." - Megan Hunter
"Beautiful, otherworldly, like floating through water with your eyes open." - Daisy Johnson
"Reading this book is like diving into the deepest depths of the ocean and finding beautiful and disturbing wonders." - Kirsty Logan
"A strange, unnerving novel that wrongfoots you at every turn and invites you to think again about loss, absence, and transformation. A lyrically written elegy." - Neel Mukherjee
"A wonderful novel, deeply romantic and fabulously strange. I loved this book." - Sarah Waters
"I was entirely captivated by this book. A gorgeous debut." - Jami Attenberg
"Tender, strange, lucid, and so assured. If you love sci-fi or love stories or books that defy labels or chew-your-arm-off good writing, this is for you." - Kiran Millwood Hargrave
"Spooky and romantic: a gorgeous novel that gets under your skin. Armfield leads you softly through a story that feels epic and intimate at the same time." - Sarvat Hasin
"Delicate and horrifying, Our Wives Under The Sea is a darkly brilliant novel that submerges the reader's imagination in the depths of the unknown." - Megan Hunter
"Beautiful, otherworldly, like floating through water with your eyes open." - Daisy Johnson
"Reading this book is like diving into the deepest depths of the ocean and finding beautiful and disturbing wonders." - Kirsty Logan
"A strange, unnerving novel that wrongfoots you at every turn and invites you to think again about loss, absence, and transformation. A lyrically written elegy." - Neel Mukherjee
"A wonderful novel, deeply romantic and fabulously strange. I loved this book." - Sarah Waters
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