This is what makes Julia Armfield's novel 'Our Wives Under the Sea' special!

Critics and authors praise Armfield's clever, funny and wry sentence structure and the unparalleled analysis of the relationship between the two women in her novel Our Wives Under the Sea. They call it spooky, romantic, a gothic fairy tale, a sea novel, a lyrical elegy, among other things. More mouth-watering reactions >>>

After the publication of Our Wives Under the Sea spring 2022, Armfield appeared to have written a debut novel that received many positive reactions in media and from fellow authors.

So be sure to read Our Wives Under the Sea and meet Julia Armfield in our (English spoken) Writers Series programme on 24 November 2022 at Zaal 3, The Hague.

BUY TICKETS HERE (€10,- / everybody up till 30 years €5)

'There are clever lines everywhere, and wry, funny ones (…) Armfield has a poet's ability to make a phrase both new and inevitable. (…) Armfield is extremely good at anatomising the women's relationship: the self-defensive blindnesses, the resentments and rituals and angers, grief for vanished joys – all the small moments of which lasting love consists' – The Guardian.

'A wonderful novel, deeply romantic and fabulously strange. I loved this book.' - Sarah Waters (UK novelist, known for a.o. Tipping the Velvet).

'A strange, unnerving novel that wrongfoots you at every turn and invites you to think again about loss, absence, and transformation, Our Wives Under The Sea also returns wholly original answers to that great question, 'Where did we come from, where are we going?' It is a beautiful, lyrically written elegy.' - Neel Mukherjee (UK novelist and critic, known for a.o. The Lives of Others, and a participant of our Winternachten festival in 2016).

'Julia Armfield is one of my favourite writers, Our Wives Under The Sea moves fluidly between horror story and love story, the gorgeous and the grotesque. A contemporary gothic fairy tale, sublime in its creepiness.' - Florence Welch (UK lead singer of the band Florence and the Machine).

'Beautiful, otherworldly, like floating through water with your eyes open.' - Daisy Johnson (UK novelist, known for a.o. Everything Under and Sisters).

'Delicate and horrifying, Our Wives Under The Sea is a darkly brilliant novel that submerges the reader's imagination in the depths of the unknown.' - Megan Hunter (UK novelist, known for a.o. The End We Start From.

'Reading this book is like diving into the deepest depths of the ocean and finding beautiful and disturbing wonders.' - Kirsty Logan, Scottish novelist, poet and critic.

'Our Wives is spooky and romantic: a gorgeous, lyrical novel that gets under your skin. Armfield leads you softly through a story that feels epic and intimate at the same time.' - Sarvat Hasin (UK-Pakistani author and essayist known for a.o. her novel The Giant Dark).

'Tender, strange, lucid, and so assured - comparisons feel insubstantial, but if you love sci fi or love stories or books that defy labels or chew-your-arm-off good writing, this is for you.' - Kiran Millwood Hargrave (UK poet and author of theatre plays, novels, children's and young adults' books).

'A mesmerizing triumph. Julia Armfield has created a surprisingly seamless novel: it is a love story, a grief story, a question without end. It's a tale of the sea that swallows you whole and breaks your heart in the very best way. It is tender and funny. It is shockingly bold. Without a doubt, it is one of the best books I've ever read. It's not only art, it's a perfect miracle. We are lucky for it.' - Kristen Arnett (US author known for her novels Mostly Dead Things and With Teeth).

 

In our Writers Series programme on 24 November 2022 at Zaal 3, The Hague, we welcome two young authors with much-discussed novel debuts: Julia Armfield, and Nikki Dekker who recently published her novel diepdiepblauw (deep deep blue). Their novels are both about love relationships between women with a remarkable role for the sea and underwater life. Writer and literary programme maker Lisa Weeda, who herself recently published her debut novel Aleksandra, will lead the discussion. The programme is in English.

 

Writers Series: Julia Armfield and Nikki Dekker in conversation with Lisa Weeda (English spoken programme)

Thursday 24 November 2022, 20:30-22:00

Zaal 3, De Constant Rebecqueplein 20A, The Hague

BUY TICKETS HERE (€10,- / everybody up to 30 years €5,-)

Book sale and signing in the foyer afterwards: De Vries Van Stockum Boeken

Programme curated by Joëlle Koorneef (Writers Unlimited)

With thanks to: Municipality of The Hague, Dutch Foundation for Literature, Podium Publishers.