Under Water : Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2026 - Tara Menon

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2026A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK�A VOGUE BEST DEBUT 2026`Stunning' Sunday Times`Profoundly moving' Elif Shafak (on Instagram)'A wonderfully heartfelt debut' Marie-Claire`Writing is pristine. Brava, Tara Menon,�this is a beauty!' Elin Hilderbrand (on Instagram)A stunning and deeply moving novel of grief, loss and female friendship, set against the backdrop of two cataclysmic�natural�eventsWhen 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. `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