Our Wives Under The Sea: Winner of the Polari Prize Paperback – 16 Mar. 2023

The media could not be loaded. "I Who Have Never Known Men" is a haunting and thought-provoking novel that will leave readers questioning their own beliefs and perceptions. The story follows a young girl who has spent her entire life living in captivity underground in a cage with 39 other women she has never met before. With no memory of her life before the cage, she is thrust into a world of confusion and uncertainty.When the keys to the cage are mysteriously left behind after an alarm goes off, the girl and the other women are given a chance to escape. As they embark on a journey in search of civilization, they face numerous challenges and obstacles, ultimately leading to the deaths of all the other women, leaving the girl alone and desperate for answers.The unique writing style of the author draws readers in and keeps them captivated until the very end. The story is filled with suspense, emotion, and a deep sense of longing for connection and understanding. The girl's journey is both heartbreaking and inspiring, as she grapples with her past and searches for meaning in a world that is both unfamiliar and unforgiving."I Who Have Never Known Men" is a powerful and unforgettable read that will stay with you long after you have finished it. It is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and a reminder of the importance of connection and community. This novel is a must-read for anyone who appreciates a thought-provoking and beautifully written story.

I put off reading this book for some time as generally was not sure what to expect but once I started I honestly could not put this down. It was such a pleasure to read something that consumed me completely. I loved the storytelling of the two main characters the entwined tales from past and present of the character’s perspectives of the emotional journey they both take. Fantastic book, would highly recommend.

Very strange story. Not gothic as suggested more science fiction

MIRI and LEAH are a married couple. They live in an apartment which has neighbours who listen to loud television ‘soaps’. They have friends called Sam and Carmen, drink cherry Coke, eat pizza – it’s very studenty. Both of them frequently examine their tongues, their teeth, and their skins. They spend a lot of time in the bath, particularly Leah, and as the reader reads this novel OUR WIVES UNDER THE SEA by Julia Armfield, they become aware that Leah has taken part in a deep-sea diving research mission. Miri – though she says she did work in the past – it seems is a ‘stay home’ partner whilst Leah is the wife under the sea and is employed by THE CENTRE, a mysterious faceless organization who seem to be only contactable by telephone.The entire 230pp novel is in the form of two alternating accounts, Miri’s monologue – though there is dialogue in both - written in the present tense, and Leah’s point of view delivered in the past tense. On p10 we gather that something is wrong, Leah’s submarine which she shares with two other crew, MATTEO and JELKA has ‘lost contact’ and we gradually realize what ‘deep sea’ means, its seven and a half miles deep – and probably somewhere at the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific, the mission takes months.Miri has to start coming to terms with the possibility that Leah may not return. The Centre gives her no information so she seeks solace with on-line blogs, one for missing persons, another for the ‘wives of imaginary spacemen.’ Meanwhile, Leah describes conditions on the submarine in torchlight only, strange noises, smells and increasing hints of a life presence of mythological proportions. I say ‘meanwhile’ but part of the deftness of this novel is the structuring of past tense and present - the compartmenting as it were. The two points of view are not simultaneous, so the reader has no idea whether or not Leah gets back or survives until the later stages of the narrative.About three quarters of the way through, Jelka’s sister Juna contacts Miri with ‘something to tell’. This throws the whole novel into a different gear and the pace accelerates toward a conclusion which explores the origins of all life itself.

Ringing in the new year with my first review.What a gorgeous book this is!The background plot that weaves in and out of the narrative like ocean waves bringing a bit more information along the way is that Leah went on a deep sea expedition that went horribly wrong and comes back to her wife Miri as a shattered, traumatised person. As her crew lost power inside their submarine and their connection with the world above, she and her two colleagues landed on the sea bed and the darkness.'Did you know that we all carry the ocean in our bodies, just a little bit? Blood is basically made of sodium, potassium, calcium - more or less the same as sea water, when you really get down to it. The first things came from the sea, of course, so there's always going to be a little trace of it in everything, a little trace of salt in the bones.'It's incredibly moving, beautifully written and eerie. Most of all it's about what happens when you are faced with a big loss and the painful process of grieving.“I think,” Juna says after a pause, “that the thing about losing someone isn’t the loss but the absence of afterwards. D’you know what I mean? The endlessness of that.”

I was really looking forward to reading this book but I was disappointed in how many tangents there were that ultimately ended without resolution. One of the wife's colleagues was also present on the submarine with her and their shared experience is discussed at length, but there is then no information on what his outcome was. A corporation is strongly suggested to be shady or underhanded, but that's as far as it goes - mere suggestion with no follow up.It very much reads as if the author wanted to tell the main story and felt it needed this extra backstory, but started without a clear idea where she was taking it.