Under Water
'Stunning' Sunday Times
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to basket failed.
Please try again later
Add to wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Adding to library failed
Please try again
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Audible Standard 30-day free trial
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Under Water
Narrated by:
Chantelle Ramdeen
Buy Now for £10.76
-
Narrated by:
-
Chantelle Ramdeen
-
By:
-
Tara Menon
About this listen
BBC CULTURE ‘BOOKS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2026’
A VOGUE BEST DEBUT 2026
‘Profoundly moving’ Elif Shafak (on Instagram)
‘The horrors of 2004 are told with verve in this debut about a woman haunted by survivor guilt . . . there are stunning descriptions of island wildlife . . . Tara Menon tells the story with confidence and style’ Sunday Times
A stunning and deeply moving literary debut of grief, loss and female friendship, set against the backdrop of two cataclysmic natural events.
When six-year-old Marissa loses her mother, she is taken by her father to live on a small Thai island in the Andaman Sea. There, she forms a deep friendship with Arielle and together they explore the fragile wonders of its forests, reefs, and beaches. Holding their breath for minutes at a time, they learn to dive into the deep, as effortlessly synchronized as the manta rays they come to know by name. Then, on Boxing Day 2004, when the Indian Ocean tsunami makes landfall, they are swept up by the first wave and separated.
Eight years later, Marissa is living in New York. She spends her days wandering through the city and her nights seeking solace in the beds of strangers. As the city prepares for a devastating storm, Marissa reflects on her past and learns how to sustain herself in a precarious world.
Under Water is a story about friendship and grief, but also ecological change and natural disasters. It is a meditation on loss, a tribute to our dying oceans and forests, and a love letter to the disappearing coral reefs.
Critic reviews
‘A novel of remarkable delicacy and power, Under Water is about grief, friendship, home, and longing. Menon writes exquisite sentences, sensual and particular, each containing an entire world.’ Katie Kitamura, author of Audition and Intimacies
‘Reading Under Water is like being under water: immersive and stirring, pellucid and mysterious, shot through with light and with shades, overwhelming and exquisite–in a word, sublime.’ Namwali Serpell, author of The Old Drift and The Furrows
‘A quietly beautiful novel, Under Water is a remarkable achievement. With admirable restraint, Tara Menon has written something extraordinary: intimate, sublime, stirring. Reading Menon’s book is itself like being under water, submerged in the longing and the grief of a friendship torn apart. Hers is a singular voice. I can't wait to see where she'll go next.’ Kasim Ali, author of Good Intentions and Who Will Remain
‘Tara Menon beautifully evokes the intensity of a young woman's lost friendship, and the extraordinary natural world - on land and in the ocean - in which that friendship was forged. Under Water, in equal measure compelling and heart wrenching, is a remarkable debut.’ Claire Messud, author of This Strange Eventful History and The Emperor’s Children
'Menon’s dynamic debut…is sure to pull at the reader’s heartstrings.' Publishers Weekly
‘A remarkable study of grief, set against the backdrop of ecological disaster.’ The New World ‘Books to Look Out for in 2026’
‘A beautifully written novel of grief, friendship and the natural world’ Mail on Sunday ‘Books to Look Out for in 2026’
‘Reading Under Water is like being under water: immersive and stirring, pellucid and mysterious, shot through with light and with shades, overwhelming and exquisite–in a word, sublime.’ Namwali Serpell, author of The Old Drift and The Furrows
‘A quietly beautiful novel, Under Water is a remarkable achievement. With admirable restraint, Tara Menon has written something extraordinary: intimate, sublime, stirring. Reading Menon’s book is itself like being under water, submerged in the longing and the grief of a friendship torn apart. Hers is a singular voice. I can't wait to see where she'll go next.’ Kasim Ali, author of Good Intentions and Who Will Remain
‘Tara Menon beautifully evokes the intensity of a young woman's lost friendship, and the extraordinary natural world - on land and in the ocean - in which that friendship was forged. Under Water, in equal measure compelling and heart wrenching, is a remarkable debut.’ Claire Messud, author of This Strange Eventful History and The Emperor’s Children
'Menon’s dynamic debut…is sure to pull at the reader’s heartstrings.' Publishers Weekly
‘A remarkable study of grief, set against the backdrop of ecological disaster.’ The New World ‘Books to Look Out for in 2026’
‘A beautifully written novel of grief, friendship and the natural world’ Mail on Sunday ‘Books to Look Out for in 2026’
No reviews yet