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Our Wives Under the Sea
240 pages
A haunting, slow-burn exploration of anticipatory grief wrapped in the eerie, claustrophobic dread of the deep ocean.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like slowly sinking into dark, freezing water. It is a masterclass in creeping dread and quiet devastation, blending the eerie, unknowable horrors of the deep sea with the intimate tragedy of watching someone you love slip away. The narrative moves at a steady, deliberate pace, alternating between the claustrophobic terror of a stranded submarine and the agonizingly quiet domestic space of a marriage unraveling on dry land. The prose is lyrical and visceral, anchoring surreal body horror in the tender, mundane details of a long-term relationship. It is an achingly melancholic experience, perfect for readers who appreciate literary horror, queer romance, and stories that treat grief as a profound, physical transformation.
- Mood
- claustrophobic
- eerie
- dread-soaked
- sorrowful
- aquatic
- Tone
- elegiac
- intimate
- melancholic
- clinical
- tender
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- anticipatory grief · bodily transformation · unknowability of loved ones · the vastness of the unknown · chronic illness
- The writing
- Lyrical, precise, and hauntingly visceral, blending the clinical language of marine biology with the tender poetry of domestic intimacy.
- The arc
- A slow, heartbreaking descent from desperate, clinging hope into a quiet, inevitable surrender to profound loss.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave atmospheric, slow-burn literary horror that uses surrealism to explore the deep emotional trenches of queer love and grief.
Content notes
- grief
- body horror
- claustrophobia
- chronic illness metaphor
- death of a spouse
About the book
Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep sea mission that ended in catastrophe. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah may have come back wrong. 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.
To have the woman she loves back should mean a return to normal life, but Miri can feel Leah slipping from her grasp. Memories of what they had before – the jokes they shared, the films they watched, all the small things that made Leah hers – only remind Miri of what she stands to lose. Living in the same space but suddenly separate, Miri comes to realize that the life that they had might be gone.
Our Wives Under The Sea is the debut novel from the critically acclaimed author of salt slow. It’s a story of falling in love, loss, grief, and what life there is in the deep, deep sea.
Description from Open Library.
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