Our Wives Under the Sea

Armfield’s beautifully descriptive debut (after her short story collection, salt slow), blends elements of horror and science fiction with a quiet and painfully sad story of a relationship strained to the breaking point. The story’s protagonists, Miri and Leah, are a couple dealing with uncontrollable changes in their lives. Leah, a marine biologist, has just returned home after months of being stranded on the ocean’s floor in a disabled submarine. Leah’s wife, Miri, is desperate to help her adjust, but it’s difficult to deny that something is very wrong, and she begins to wonder if the Leah she once knew is gone forever. Annabel Baldwin and Robyn Holdaway take turns narrating alternating chapters, with Holdaway giving voice to Leah, and Baldwin narrating the part of Miri. Their presentation is so attuned to the characters’ personalities that the boundary between narrator and character disappears entirely.