“A stunning and deeply moving literary debut of grief, loss and female friendship, set against the backdrop of two cataclysmic natural events.”
When five-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
SELECT PRESS
BBC Radio 2, Winter Book Club Selection
Debutiful, The Most Anticipated Debuts of 2026
Goodreads, 57 New and Upcoming Books to Discover in 2026
BBC Culture, 40 Most Exciting Books to Look Forward to in 2026
The New World, Culture Picks of 2026
Mail on Sunday, Books to Look Forward to in 2026
Five Books, Must Read Novels of Early 2026
Kirkus 20 Best Books to Read in March
NPR 10 New Books to Read in March
Time 10 New Books You Should Read in March
Oprah Daily The Best Books of Spring 2026
UK (Summit) Order here, here, here or from an independent bookstore here
USA (Riverhead)Order here, here, here, here or from an independent bookstore here
PUBLICATION DATES
Arabic (Dar Tashkeel) | Autumn 2026
Brazil (Todavia) | August 2026
Bulgaria (Iztok Zapad) | May 2026
Catalan (Grup 62) | October 2026
China (Big Apple) | TBA
Croatia (Stilus) | March/April 2026
Czechia (Host) | April 2026
Denmark (Glydendal) | April 22, 2026
Estonia (Rahva Raamat) | April 21, 2026
Finland (Siltala) | March 12, 2026
French (Grasset) | Spring 2027
Germany (Dumont) | April 14, 2027
Greece (Metaichmio) | Spring 2027
Hungary (Jelenkor) | April 19, 2026
Iceland (Benedikt) | TBA
Italy (Feltrinelli) | May 2026
Korea (La Comedie H) | April/May 2026
Latvia (Zvaigzne) | March 2026
Lithuania (Baltos Lankos) | 2027
Norway (Glydendal) | May 4, 2026
Poland (Poznanskie) | May 20, 2026
Portugal (Porto Editora) | April 16, 2026
Romania (Litera) | April 2026
Serbia (Vulkan) | May 2026
Slovenia (Ucila) | March 2026
Spain (Anaya) | October 2026
Sweden (Norstedts) | November 5, 2026
Taiwan (Linking) | late 2026
Netherlands (Ambo Anthos) | July 2026
Tamil (Zero Degrees) | TBA
Turkey (Domingo) | Spring 2027
Ukraine (Ranok) | September 2026
PRAISE
“Oscillating between the days leading up to the tsunami and the hours before Sandy hits New York in 2012, the novel tenderly and yet unflinchingly mines Marissa’s grief as it meditates on friendship, loss, and the shimmering beauty of memory—as ephemeral as the light that filters down through shallow ocean waters and just as enduring. Stunning and complex; a book that admits no easy answers but also refuses to avoid the hard questions.” — Kirkus Reviews, STARRED
“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
“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
“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
“[A] luminous debut that moves with the speed of a single held breath… [The] novel shows how grief behaves like weather, returning without warning and changing the air in a room…What lingers is not disaster, but devotion: love refusing to sink.” —Oprah Daily
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