The Sea in the Metro

by Jayne Tuttle

From the critically acclaimed author of Paris or Die and My Sweet Guillotine comes a powerfully written story of desire, art and the complexity of modern womanhood.

I am the worst person in the world.
Bad mother. Bad lover. Bad worker. Bad woman. Bad friend ...

Jayne is a new mother in Paris trying to balance her creative ambition and lust for city life with the instinctual urges of motherhood - and failing.

As her relationship with her husband and the city strains, she searches for answers in a friendship with an older Frenchwoman, the streets, the crowds, in art and writing and new wave cinema… but finds only more questions. Something has to give, but what?

‘Writing that is joltingly alive, beautiful and terrifying’ – Helen Garner

‘Madcap, heartbreaking, witty and wise’ – Lauren Elkin

‘A delicious delight’ – Christos Tsiolkas

‘Emerging as one of our finest’ – The Australian

‘All nerve endings and noticing’ – Claire Thomas

‘A writer who has perfected her craft’ – Ceridwen Dovey

'Terrific, crisp writing … like a latter-day Bonjour Tristesse' – The Age

'Like sheet lightning: sudden, illuminating and terrifying. –Tegan Bennett-Daylight

‘A whirlwind of longing.’ –Siang Lu

‘Motherhood, desire and the beautiful, infuriating pursuit of art.'– Katherine Brabon

‘Addictive and irreverent.’– Misha Honcharenko

'Navigating the entanglements of love, loss, mortality, motherhood, creativity and home.'– Jennifer Higgie

288 pages, Paperback

Published August 5, 2025

About the author

Jayne Tuttle is the author of Paris or Die (2019) and My Sweet Guillotine (2022).
Jayne graduated from the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in 2006 and went on to live and work in France as an actor, voice-over artist, playwright, translator and bilingual copywriter.
Jayne has received fellowships from the Ville de Paris, the Centre les Récollets, the La Napoule Art Foundation, Varuna Writers House and Bundanon, and has written for outlets including The Guardian, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Reviews

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ebook. Finished the trilogy and liked Paris or Die best, probably because of how harrowing the story becomes. Although I can’t totally identify with her experiences and thoughts in this one, I feel I do get it. It is hard going for mothers these days. And for fathers and I feel she presents her husband well. The writing is so raw and honest and drags you in no matter how hard you try to stand back. She doesn’t let you. It will take a while to shake this one off.

[Sian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book as I had adored the first time.
I really wished there were speech marks. Call me old fashioned but I do like to have all the punctuation.
I enjoyed the story and definitely loved reconnecting with Jayne. But found the way it was written was harder to read this time. Perhaps a deliberate decision based on the story.

[Oriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melbourne’s Miranda July, replete with palatable franglais

Favourite out-of-context lines:

* How can you bring up a baby in this environment, I remember thinking. Cut to me, four years later, bringing up my baby in this environment
* Oh god you bought chou again
Yes, I’m going to make okonomiyaki
I don’t make it
And I throw it out
* The signs outside change from ichs and iebens to illes and ères
* Of course I’m going to give birth in Paris. I was always giving birth in Paris. Trust her to try to be born here
* What is it about Paris that makes women radiant? Is it that she’s épanouie? I don’t know what that means. Didier tells me it means fulfilled. Yes, women are fulfilled in Paris
* Who in their lifetime gets to live on Île Saint-Louis? The apartment was on the third floor, no elevator
* We were alone, but together
* Is it that the children colour the boots in brown?
* She knows where the bonheur lies
* Fuck I love this fucking city

[Kerryn Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to immerse yourself into Parisian life with a toddler then this is the novel for you . I totally related to the main character Australian Jayne with her toddler - the Chunk & musician husband M . Jayne’s wrestle with trying to be a good mother & partner , putting her own acting career on hold to make an income to support her family , grieving for her mother who died before the Chunk was born , the ordeal of childbirth in a foreign country , set in the streets of Paris & coastal Victoria .
A wonderful fulfilling relatable read .I just wanted to wrap Jayne & her family in a warm hug

[Stephanie Wescott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having just flown through this book with abandon of nearly all else, Tuttle is now firmly in my favourite writer category. Stunning writing. Punishingly candid reflections on motherhood, parenting and creativity. The city of Paris features as a muse, a mirage and an impossibility, and the setting for Tuttle's grief, suffering and aspirations.