Under Water

A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK

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 cataclysmicnaturalevents.

When six-year-oldMarissa loses her mother,she is taken byher father to live on a small Thai island in the Andaman Sea. There,sheforms a deep friendship with Arielle andtogether they explore the fragile wonders of itsforests,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 livingin New York. Shespends 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 Wateris 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.