Julia Armfield: Our Wives Under The Sea and Private Rites

Mar 31, 2026 51 min

About this episode

Today we’re joined by the incredibly talented novelist Julia Armfield. Julia wrote one of my favourite books ever, called Our Wives Under The Sea. It’s about a woman who returns from a disastrous deep-sea dive, and her wife who is now looking after someone she barely recognises. It’s so lyrical and beautiful, she is such a talent. We met to discuss her debut, as well as her newest release Private Rites, a similarly wet novel. In Private Rites, the world is drowning after so much rain. Three sisters are navigating love and loss in this new reality, and the book is actually a reimagining of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Unfortunately we don’t have the video for this episode, the footage somehow got lost, so this episode is audio-only. Please welcome to the Inklings Book Club, Julia Armfield. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to this episode in English to learn English

Podcast episodes are one of the highest-density ways to absorb English at native pace. Julia Armfield: Our Wives Under The Sea and Private Rites from Inklings Book Club gives you natural dialogue, unscripted speech, and vocabulary that actually appears in real conversations.

In the Clue app, every word in the transcript is tappable. Tap an unknown word, see the translation in your language instantly, and keep listening without breaking flow.

Episodes to Learn English

More podcasts in English