Julia Armfield – Our Wives Under the Sea

We can't wait for Julia Armfield to come to Portobello for an evening event to celebrate the publication of her debut novel, Our Wives Under the Sea. She will be in conversation with fellow writer, Kirsty Logan.

About Our Wives Under the Sea:

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.

Julia Armfield lives and works in London. She is a fiction writer and occasional playwright with a Masters in Victorian Art and Literature from Royal Holloway University. Her work has been published in Lighthouse, Analog Magazine, The White Review and Salt's Best British Short Stories 2019. She was commended in the Moth Short Story Prize 2017, longlisted for the Deborah Rogers Prize 2018 and is the winner of The White Review Short Story Prize 2018.

Kirsty Logan’s latest work is the Audible Original novel The Sound at the End, an Arctic ghost story. She is also the author of three story collections, two novels, two chapbooks, a short memoir, and collaborative work including ‘Lord Fox’, a live show of spoken word, song and harp music, and ‘The Knife-Thrower’s Wife’, an Angela Carter-inspired album. Her books have won the Lambda, Polari, Saboteur, Scott and Gavin Wallace awards. Her work has been optioned for TV, adapted for stage, recorded for radio and podcasts, exhibited in galleries and distributed from a vintage Wurlitzer cigarette machine.

We are planning for this event to take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. However, depending on COVID regulations at the time of the event, those purchasing the in-person audience option will also receive the link to watch the event from home, should we be unable to welcome people to the bookshop on the night. Following Scottish Government advice and guidelines, in-person audience attendees will be asked to wear a face covering inside the bookshop unless they are exempt.

In-person Audience: you can purchase a signed – and if requested, dedicated – copy of Our Wives Under the Sea OR a £5 Voucher.

Livestream: you can purchase a signed – and if requested, dedicated – copy of Our Wives Under the Sea, a £3 Voucher OR a Free Livestream Ticket.

Please note that vouchers can be used on any item in the bookshop and on our website – including books by featured authors. Please consider supporting the bookshop by purchasing a book or voucher.