Everything Under

A contemporary retelling of the Greek play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, British author Daisy Johnson’s novel Everything Under (2018) follows the story of Gretel, a young woman searching for her disappeared mother, Sarah, a character loosely modeled after Oedipus's mother, Jocasta. With Everything Under, Johnson became the youngest writer to become a finalist for the prestigious Man Booker Prize at the age of 27.

Sixteen years ago, Gretel's mother, Sarah, disappeared. While Gretel still holds out hope that Sarah is alive, calling hospitals and morgues every few months, she tries to repress her childhood memories of her mother as a way of coping. However, when a body that strongly resembles that of her mother—but isn't—emerges at a nearby morgue, Gretel resumes her search with renewed focus. She revisits the stables where she grew up, hoping to find a clue. When this proves fruitless, she tries to locate her childhood friend, Marcus. Unfortunately, Marcus doesn't seem to have left much of a footprint online. The closest Gretel comes in her online research is the discovery of a couple named Roger and Laura whom she believes are Marcus's father and mother.

Roger and Laura reveal that they adopted Marcus. Moreover, at the time of the adoption, Marcus was biologically a young girl named Margot. They also say that Marcus received a prophecy from Fiona, a neighbor and family friend who told him he would murder his father and have sex with his mother, much like the prophecy Oedipus receives in Sophocles's play. To prevent this from happening, Marcus left home, never to be heard from by Roger and Laura again.



While attempting to contact Fiona to learn more about Marcus's disappearance, Gretel receives an email from Sarah informing her that she can be found at the River Isis. There, Gretel reunites with her mother, and the two live together for a time on an old houseboat. Noticing her mother's mental decline, Gretel brings her mother to stay with her at her cottage. Over the next few months, Sarah reveals the truth behind Marcus's story and how it relates to Sarah's own past. Sarah tells Gretel that Marcus was her first child, a girl fathered out of wedlock by a man named Charlie. While Charlie agrees to raise Marcus, Sarah, mortified by the idea of motherhood, abandons Marcus in a trashcan. She also leaves Charlie. Roger and Laura find Marcus in the trashcan and name the child Margot.

After abandoning Roger and Laura, Margot lives in the wilderness by the River Isis and transitions into a boy named Marcus. A creature called the Bonak or canal thief is said to live by the riverbanks, murdering children and fishermen. Fearful for his life, Marcus seeks refuge on the boat of a local fisherman who just so happens to be Charlie, Marcus's biological father. They live together amicably until one night, Marcus is gripped by an overwhelming feeling that Charlie is under attack by the canal thief. In an effort to save Charlie, Marcus runs to the boat and attacks a shadowy figure, accidentally murdering Charlie just as Fiona's prophecy had warned. Marcus dumps the body and flees, encountering Sarah and Gretel who is a young child at this point.

Sarah invites Marcus into her houseboat, and along with Gretel, the three live together for about a month. On a nighttime hunt for the canal thief, Marcus falls asleep and experiences a vivid nightmare about Fiona's prophecy. Waking in a panic, Marcus seeks Sarah for comfort. The two have sex, both of them unaware that Marcus is Sarah's child. Later, Marcus checks the trap they set for the canal thief and falls into the river, drowning.



After telling her story to Gretel, Sarah expresses her torment over these traumatic memories. Ultimately, she hangs herself outside Gretel's cottage. While in deep grief over her mother's suicide, Gretel also realizes she must stop living in the past and basing her identity on her mother's.

According to The New York Times, "Everything Under is a force of nature. Its narrative is slippery as an eel and tangled like the murky, wreckage-strewn waterways of its Oxfordshire setting."