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Memoir

Capital ‘W’ writer

A memoir in search of juste

The Sea in the Metro by Jayne Tuttle

by Kirsten Krauth
October 2025, no. 480

The Sea in the Metro by Jayne Tuttle

Hardie Grant Books, $34.99 pb, 288 pp

ABR receives a commission on items purchased through this link. All ABR reviews are fully independent.

Jayne Tuttle’s The Sea in the Metro is the third book in a trilogy of memoirs about living, working, and becoming a mother in Paris. Like Paris or Die (2019) and My Sweet Guillotine (2022), Tuttle’s latest book applies a sharp scalpel to her own psyche while playing with genre. She explores the brutal realities of giving birth and raising a toddler in a foreign city, the seemingly impossible task of balancing motherhood with paid work, the joys and hardships of striving to be a capital ‘W’ writer while copywriting for cash, and what family might look like in brittle, Parisian culture. Tuttle also examines the complex ramifications of a near-death experience and a hospital birthing trauma on her ongoing physical and mental health – and intimate relationships.

 


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The Sea in the Metro by Jayne Tuttle

Hardie Grant Books, $34.99 pb, 288 pp

ABR receives a commission on items purchased through this link. All ABR reviews are fully independent.


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Advances – October 2025

by Australian Book Review

The Sea in the Metro: A memoir in search of juste by Jayne Tuttle

by Kirsten Krauth

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