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Quick answer: If you liked Our Wives Under the Sea, read Julia Armfield's Salt Slow, then try Annihilation, The Deep, Piranesi and Her Body and Other Parties. All mix unease, grief and strange transformations in elegant, unsettling prose.
Julia Armfield's 2022 novel follows Leah, whose wife Miri returns from a deep-sea mission changed and distant, and the strange fear that follows. It is quiet horror about love and loss. The books below share that mood, with bodies that change, places that feel wrong and prose that lingers. All are adult fiction, and all are real, in-print books.
Table of Contents
Quick Picks at a Glance
| Book | Author | Ages | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salt Slow | Julia Armfield | Adult | more Armfield |
| Annihilation | Jeff VanderMeer | Adult | weird nature |
| The Deep | Rivers Solomon | Adult | ocean myth |
| Grief Is the Thing with Feathers | Max Porter | Adult | grief and metaphor |
| The Hole | Hiroko Oyamada | Adult | domestic strangeness |
| Cursed Bunny | Bora Chung | Adult | short horror |
| The Haunting of Hill House | Shirley Jackson | Adult | classic haunting |
| Mexican Gothic | Silvia Moreno-Garcia | Adult | modern gothic |
| Her Body and Other Parties | Carmen Maria Machado | Adult | body horror |
| Piranesi | Susanna Clarke | Adult | strange places |
| Lanny | Max Porter | Adult | village folklore |
| The Loney | Andrew Michael Hurley | Adult | bleak coastal horror |
| The Drowning Girl | Caitlín R. Kiernan | Adult | unreliable narrators |
| The Terror | Dan Simmons | Adult | cold sea horror |
| The Last House on Needless Street | Catriona Ward | Adult | twist horror |
1. Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
A short story collection by the same author, full of eerie, tender stories about bodies and relationships. A natural next step.
Best for: more Armfield.
2. Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
A team enters Area X, a zone where nature has turned strange. Short, dreamlike and the first of the Southern Reach trilogy.
Best for: weird nature.
3. The Deep by Rivers Solomon
A descendant of drowned slaves remembers her people's history. Lyrical and based on a song by clipping.
Best for: ocean myth.
4. Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
A father and sons are visited by a crow after their mother dies. Short, poetic and strange.
Best for: grief and metaphor.
5. The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada
A woman follows a strange animal into a hole after moving to her husband's family home. Quiet and eerie.
Best for: domestic strangeness.
6. Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung
Dark Korean stories about hidden lives and sudden horrors. Short, sharp and imaginative.
Best for: short horror.
7. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Four people stay in a house with a bad reputation, and a lonely woman is drawn in. A classic.
Best for: classic haunting.
8. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
A socialite goes to a decaying mansion in 1950s Mexico to rescue her cousin. Weird and atmospheric.
Best for: modern gothic.
9. Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
Short stories about women, bodies and horror. Funny, angry and daring.
Best for: body horror.
10. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
A man lives in a house of endless halls and statues. Short, strange and beautiful.
Best for: strange places.
11. Lanny by Max Porter
A boy in an English village and an ancient spirit called Dead Papa Toothwort. Odd and moving.
Best for: village folklore.
12. The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley
A group makes a pilgrimage to a bleak coast in 1970s England. Slow, bleak and chilling.
Best for: bleak coastal horror.
13. The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan
A woman with schizophrenia tells of a strange encounter with a woman by a bridge. Uncertain and haunting.
Best for: unreliable narrators.
14. The Terror by Dan Simmons
A fictional account of the Franklin expedition, with a supernatural monster. Long and chilling.
Best for: cold sea horror.
15. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
A house at the edge of a forest hides secrets, and a girl vanished years ago. Twisty and disturbing.
Best for: twist horror.
How to Choose
For more Armfield, read Salt Slow. For the sea, The Deep and The Terror. For eerie nature, Annihilation. For quiet grief, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers. For gothic houses, Hill House and Mexican Gothic. These books reward patient readers, so read them in one or two sittings if you can. Quiet horror about love and loss is best read at your own pace. Take breaks if the mood weighs on you, and pair a heavy book with something lighter. Short story collections are a good way to sample an author before committing to a novel.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Our Wives Under the Sea about?
Miri returns from a deep-sea expedition changed, and her wife Leah tries to understand what happened as Miri slowly transforms.
Is it horror?
It is literary horror, more about dread, love and grief than gore.
How long is it?
It is short, about 200 pages.
Is it queer fiction?
Yes. It centers on a married couple of women.
Which book is closest to it?
Annihilation and The Deep share its sea or nature strangeness.
Who wrote Our Wives Under the Sea?
Julia Armfield, a British author whose debut collection Salt Slow won praise for its horror and tenderness.
How long is the book?
It is short, about 200 pages, and many readers finish it in a couple of sittings.
Does it have a clear ending?
It ends with emotional resolution but leaves some mystery about the sea.
Is it scary?
It is more haunting than frightening.
Do the characters survive?
The ending is open and emotional, and it is best left for the reader to discover.