Our Wives Under the Sea

“Most nights, we don’t talk—silence like a spine through the new shape our relationship has taken.”

Miri uses this simile to describe the way that the silence has become the “backbone” of her marriage to Leah. The two women do not discuss Leah’s expedition and unexpected absence; they do not discuss Leah’s condition or Miri’s resentment. This silence is the first indication that the relationship—and the situation—is troubled.

“Did you know that until very recently, more people had been to the moon than had dived beyond the depths of six thousand meters? I think about this often—the inhospitableness of certain places.”

Here, Leah implicitly acknowledges her fascination with the ocean, not to mention her determination to dive deep into such inhospitable places. These lines reveal her adventurous personality. This quote is also notable because Leah’s appeal to an unspecified audience reveals that she records her experiences for the express purpose of having someone read about them.

“We have always lived here—met in a pale electric summer, moved quickly from our respective basement studios to the second-floor flat we have shared for seven years. Before she transferred to the Centre, Leah used to take the train each morning, an hour at least to run her out through brown uncertain marshlands to the research facility, minutes from the sea. An hour back again at night, her clothes salt-glazed, her skin scoured smooth by coastal weather. Strange, to live in such proximity to an ocean that I almost never see.”

While Leah is forever leaning toward the ocean, Miri is firmly bound to the land. This contrast reveals one of the fundamental oppositions between their personalities. While Miri works from home, nesting in their apartment, Leah prefers to work outside, in the natural elements. As the novel progresses, this contrast intensifies, Leah ultimately transforming into something reflecting her internal nature.