Chapter summaries Our Wives Under the Sea Julia Armfield

Chapter 32: Miri — Summary, Themes, and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Miri buys a length of surgical bandage and binds the side of Leah's face, covering the place where her eye used to be. She checks that Leah can still see, then returns her to the bath, dissolving three tablespoons of salt in water for her—the only care she can think to offer. While Miri sits cross-legged on the bath mat with her back to the tub, watching the tail end of a movie about a talent competition, Leah asks out of nowhere whether Miri remembers the mattar paneer they used to order from the Indian restaurant on Leah's corner.

The question hits Miri like a shock. She remembers their early relationship vividly: walking to the restaurant, the greasy-hot bag swinging between them, Leah always holding the door. The memory makes Miri feel that this is her Leah again, and she is seized with a panic she has kept on a leash for months. She turns, kisses Leah, and climbs into the bath behind her, holding her along her front.

Leah tells Miri she should have touched Jelka when Jelka reached for her. Miri recalls Juna telling her plainly that her sister is dead. Miri holds Leah and pretends her skin feels less temporary, less like something about to give way. She reflects on her hypochondria—how she's used to believing bad things will end, but when something bad is actually happening, the horror is endless.

Over the following days, the neighbors play cooking shows at top volume, then switch to a niche American sport. Mist gathers at the windows each morning. Juna calls and Miri asks for more time. Miri calls Carmen, but Carmen is having her eye operation, and Miri leaves a voicemail apologizing for assuming the world revolves around her.

Miri opens the website for people whose loved ones have disappeared and scrolls the message boards. She reads a post about how you ultimately have to kill the idea of the person, not the person themselves—you have to choose to let it end. She thinks about the version of Leah she imagined before they met, and about how all you want in grief is to talk about it, while everyone assumes you want to talk about anything else. She falls asleep and wakes to messages from Sam and Toby. She goes outside at 3 A.M., sits on the wall in front of the building, and imagines she has wandered into an alternative, uninhabited version of things.

When she comes back inside, Leah is lying faceup in the bath, entirely submerged. The light is off; only the orange glow of streetlamps illuminates the water. Miri leans over and watches Leah's skin across her ribs pull and clear, growing transparent like a window wiped of mist. She sees Leah's ribs through her skin, then her lungs, expanding and retracting. Leah is sheer in the water, translucent, transparent, and breathing easily—though submerged, she has no recourse to the air.

Key Events

  • Miri bandages Leah's face and returns her to the saltwater bath.

  • Leah asks about the mattar paneer from the Indian restaurant on her corner, triggering a shared memory of their early relationship.

  • Miri kisses Leah and climbs into the bath behind her.

  • Leah expresses regret that she didn't touch Jelka when Jelka reached for her; Miri recalls Juna's news that Jelka is dead.

  • Juna calls and Miri asks for more time; Miri calls Carmen, who is having eye surgery.

  • Miri reads the disappearance support website's message boards, including a post about killing the idea of a person.

  • Miri goes outside at 3 A.M. and returns to find Leah fully submerged, faceup in the bath.

  • Leah's skin becomes transparent, revealing her ribs and lungs breathing underwater without air.

Character Development

Miri moves between caregiving and grief throughout this chapter. Her actions—bandaging Leah's face, dissolving salt, holding her in the bath—show a devotion that persists even as Leah becomes unrecognizable. Her hypochondriac framework, in which she's always assumed bad things will end, is contrasted with the reality of Leah's transformation: when something bad is actually happening, the horror is endless. The mattar paneer memory reconnects her to the person Leah was, and the panic that follows shows how much she has been suppressing. Her visit to the disappearance website reveals her seeking community or understanding, and the post about killing the idea of a person forces her to confront the possibility of letting go.

Leah remains present enough to recall their shared history, asking about the restaurant with a specificity that suggests her mind is still intact even as her body transforms. Her regret about Jelka—wishing she had touched her when she reached out—reveals guilt and a desire for connection that she can no longer act on. Her physical transformation reaches a new stage: fully submerged, transparent, breathing without air.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • Water and the bath: The bath remains the central space where Leah exists, and in this chapter she becomes fully submerged—a symbol of her complete immersion in a state beyond the human.

  • Transparency: Leah's skin growing transparent, revealing her ribs and lungs, symbolizes her becoming something other than human—her interior visible, her body no longer containing her.

  • Nostalgia and memory: The mattar paneer memory shows the power of shared history to momentarily restore a sense of the person one has lost.

  • Grief and letting go: The message board post about killing the idea of the person, rather than the person themselves, speaks directly to Miri's struggle with whether to hold on or release.

  • Regret: Leah's words about Jelka echo the novel's broader concern with missed opportunities for connection.

  • Caregiving: Miri's actions—bandaging, salting the water, holding Leah—show love expressed through physical care even as the object of that care becomes less human.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter marks a significant escalation in Leah's transformation. She is now fully submerged and transparent, breathing underwater without air—a state that confirms she is no longer bound by human biology. It also deepens Miri's emotional arc: her panic at reconnecting with the Leah she remembers, her engagement with the disappearance community, and her confrontation with the idea of letting go. The chapter ties the personal story of Miri and Leah to the broader theme of disappearance and grief, and it sets up the question of what Miri will choose to do as Leah's transformation continues.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does the mattar paneer memory trigger such a strong reaction in Miri?

The memory reconnects Miri to the Leah she knew before the expedition—the person she could watch movies with, walk to restaurants with, waste evenings with doing nothing at all. For months, Miri has been caring for a Leah who is increasingly unrecognizable, and the sudden specificity of Leah's question makes her feel that her Leah is still present. The panic that follows comes from the realization that this connection is fragile and that the person she loves is slipping away even as she reaches for her.

2. What does the message board post about killing the idea of a person suggest about grief?

The post suggests that grief requires a kind of active choice—that holding on to the idea of a lost person can prevent moving forward, and that letting go means consciously ending the internal version of them you carry. For Miri, this is a direct challenge: she has been holding on to the idea of Leah as she was, and the post forces her to consider whether she can make the choice to let it end.

3. How does Leah's transparency function as a symbol in this chapter?

Leah's skin becoming transparent, revealing her ribs and lungs, symbolizes her complete transformation into something other than human. Her interior is now visible—there is no longer a boundary between inside and outside. This transparency also reflects Miri's growing inability to know or reach the person Leah has become, and it suggests a state of total exposure and vulnerability, as well as a kind of liberation from the limits of the human body.

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