Alice Chadwick’s debut novel shares some of the same DNA as Jon McGregor’s ‘Reservoir 13’. In McGregor’s Costa award winning book, a teenage girl goes missing in the hills somewhere in the heart of England. Villagers join in the search, but just as readers are being primed for, say, a slew of revelations and twists, the novel switches focus to the quotidian as everyday life goes on. Cows need tending. Fences must be repaired. Sermons have to be written. It’s a novel that pulses with its own rhythms, the spotlight continually flitting between the village’s inhabitants. The focus in Chadwick’s ‘Dark Like Under’ is a school in rural 1980s England, the narrative here moving easily between the pupils and teachers over the course of a 24-hour period. There’s no missing girl, but there is a death – that of a popular teacher. This proves a talking point among staff and pupils alike but it doesn’t drive the story. What we do get are characters that are beautifully drawn and they include Tin, a somewhat rebellious girl who isn’t afraid to cock a snook, but is someone who is currently feeling bruised because of the actions of her best friend Robin – Tin suspects that Robin has been getting just a little too close to her boyfriend for comfort. But this little triangle is just one of many, as rivalries, friendships and hormones bubble to the fore during a particularly hot day. The result is a hypnotically immersive book that pulled me into its spell so much that I half expected my name to be called out during the pupil’s English class. RM

Published by Daunt Books