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'Stunning' Sunday Times
'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. Tara Menon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Harvard University. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Nation, Paris Review and Public Books, where she co-edits the Literary Fiction section. Tara was born in India, grew up in Singapore, spent a decade in New York, and currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. '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'
