2023/081: Our Wives Under the Sea — Julia Arnfield

2023/081: Our Wives Under the Sea — Julia Arnfield

The problem isn’t that she went away, it’s that nothing about her going away felt normal. It isn’t that her being back is difficult, it’s that I’m not convinced she’s really back at all. [p. 53]

This was a literal beach read (I like a frisson with my sea-bathing) and a horribly timely one as it coincided with the Titan submersible incident. The premise is simple: a submersible vessel with a crew of three, on a mission to the uttermost depths of the ocean, the Hadal Zone. The submarine's power and communications cease to function during their descent, but life-support systems keep running, and the three spend an indeterminate period in the abyss. Leah, one of the crew, a marine biologist and Miri's wife, is away for six months rather than the expected three weeks, and when she comes back she has suffered a sea-change.

The novel opens after all this has happened( Read more... )