Dark Like Under by Alice Chadwick

July Book Club

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Do you remember what it was like before you were reasonable? Can you feel what it was like to experience every single emotion intensely? Were you ever devastated by your best friend? Have you ever spent a day desperately cringing about something you did the night before? What’s the point of it all? What’s the bloody point?

Dark Like Under is the story of a single day in a school, but it’s the day a teacher has died. There are rumours that gentle Mr Ardennes killed himself, but the school day has to carry on regardless. If it feels a little heartless that children should be expected to get on with the lessons in the face of tragedy, it is only made clear what chaos would be unleashed should they be released from the structure of the timetable. From the studious and religious to the entirely untameable, even the quietest personalities are able to have their moment under Chadwick’s generous direction.