Julia Armfield 2 Books Collection Set: Salt Slow & Our Wives Under the Sea - Fiction - Paperback

Titles in This Set
Salt Slow
Our Wives Under the Sea

Details
Condition: Brand New
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Picador

Overview
This two-book paperback set gathers Julia Armfield's celebrated debut short story collection, Salt Slow, alongside her acclaimed debut novel, Our Wives Under the Sea. Together they showcase Armfield's signature blend of gothic atmosphere, lyrical prose, and body horror, exploring isolation, desire, grief, and the strange transformations bodies undergo under pressure. Salt Slow twists ordinary settings into uncanny territory, while Our Wives Under the Sea follows a marriage undone by a deep-sea disaster. This bundle is a strong entry point into contemporary literary horror for readers who love atmosphere and emotional precision.

About the Books
Julia Armfield writes fiction that lives at the intersection of the tender and the uncanny, and this two-book set captures both ends of her range. Salt Slow, her debut short story collection, moves through interconnected tales where bodies mutate, memories resurface, and everyday spaces like schools and seaside towns become quietly menacing. The stories explore adolescence, appetite, desire, and the pressures of belonging, rendered in prose that is precise and deeply unsettling. Our Wives Under the Sea, Armfield's debut novel, expands that sensibility into a claustrophobic narrative about a marriage strained after a submarine expedition goes wrong. Miri waits for wife Leah to return changed, and the novel unspools grief, obsession, and the fear of loving someone who may no longer be entirely themselves. The novel won the Polari Book Prize in 2023, cementing Armfield's place among contemporary literary horror's most distinctive voices. Read together, these two books trace the development of a writer whose command of mood and quiet dread has drawn comparisons to gothic fiction's best traditions, while remaining unmistakably her own.

Key Benefits

• Brand new paperback set: Armfield's debut story collection and debut novel
• Our Wives Under the Sea won the Polari Book Prize
• Strong introduction to contemporary literary horror and gothic fiction
• Great pick for book clubs exploring grief, body horror, and identity
• Compact paperback format, easy to gift or shelve together
• Ideal gift for fans of atmospheric, character-driven fiction

Book-by-Book Guide
Salt Slow — A debut collection of short stories where bodies transform, desire turns dangerous, and ordinary settings tip into the uncanny.
Our Wives Under the Sea — A debut novel following a marriage unsettled when a wife returns altered from a catastrophic deep-sea mission, winner of the Polari Book Prize.

About the Author
Julia Armfield is a British writer whose fiction blends gothic atmosphere with sharp emotional insight. Her debut short story collection, Salt Slow, established her as a distinctive new voice in literary horror, exploring the body, isolation, and desire through unsettling, precisely observed narratives. Her debut novel, Our Wives Under the Sea, builds on that foundation with a haunting story of love and loss set against the mystery of the deep sea, and was recognized with the Polari Book Prize. Armfield's work is known for its lyrical control and atmospheric tension, making her one of contemporary fiction's most talked-about emerging authors.

Why You'll Love This Collection
This pairing offers the full arc of Armfield's early work in one brand-new paperback bundle: unsettling short fiction and a prize-winning novel, both steeped in atmosphere and quiet dread. It's a thoughtful gift for literary horror fans, a strong book club pick, and a satisfying addition to any shelf built around gothic, character-driven fiction.

Please Note: This is the UK edition with the ISBN as listed; the cover may vary slightly from the image shown.