Dark Like Under by Alice Chadwick review – the kids aren't all right
After the announcement of the news in assembly, the day marches on unimpeded, with brutal precision. Chadwick's book is not only underpinned by an incisive faithfulness to details – canteen cutlery like 'fish poured from a net', 1980s 'ceiling swirls like crests of royal icing' – but an unwavering adherence to her own time-stamped chapter form. Leaping between the perspectives of students and teachers, it transpires that the children's chief concerns include the forthcoming timetable changes, or the injustice of the deceased teacher no longer marking their projects.
Those more deeply troubled are further beyond reach: the enigmatic, enthralling Tin, who 'made the hot, empty days sparkle like broken glass'. Tin has suffered a tragedy of her own, making the event seem like history repeating – but her classmates are convinced her upset pertains to her boyfriend Jonah and best friend Robin, together involved in 'a Sunday night of bonus shock and betrayal'.
Graver tensions are also at work. Beneath the day's onslaught of normality, it becomes clear that Mr Ardennes was on one side of a split between a more progressive faction of teachers and a more tyrannical group, spearheaded by Gomme – nicknamed 'the Mad Penguin'. This divide serves to be microcosmic of 1980s society as a whole: workers railing against the authorities.
Against a backdrop of Thatcher and the Falklands war, Chadwick's cast of children, on the precipice of adulthood, are caught in the crosshairs of adult politics. Each represents a different class archetype and these are shrewdly – if slightly cruelly – drawn. In the refraction of their various viewpoints, Chadwick is adept at finding the lesser tragedies bursting at the seams, amounting to a clever and compassionate debut.
Dark Like Under by Alice Chadwick is published by Daunt (£10.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
24 minutes ago
- Sky News
Noel Gallagher: I'm proud of my brother - he's been amazing
Noel Gallagher has said he is "proud" of his brother Liam after the pair reunited for this summer's Oasis Live '25 tour. The highly anticipated reunion was announced in August last year, after the brothers seemingly put the feud which led to their split in 2009 behind them. At the time, Noel said he "simply could not go on working with Liam", but having just completed the UK-leg of their comeback tour, he has nothing but praise for his younger sibling. "Liam's smashing it. I'm proud of him," Noel told talkSport in his first interview since the tour began. "I couldn't do the stadium thing like he does it, it's not in my nature. But I've got to say, I kind of look and I think 'good for you, mate'. He's been amazing. "It's great just to be back with Bonehead [Paul Arthurs] and Liam and just be doing it again." 1:11 When asked if he has felt emotional during the tour, Noel added: "I guess when it's all said and done we will sit and reflect on it, but it's great being back in the band with Liam, I forgot how funny he was." He went on to say he was "completely blown away" after the band's opening night in Cardiff, and "grossly underestimated" what he was getting himself into when first signing up for the shows. He said: "It was kind of after about five minutes, I was like, 'all right, can I just go back to the dressing room and start this again?' "I've done stadiums before and all that, but I don't mind telling you, my legs had turned to jelly after about halfway through the second song." "Every night is the crowd's first night, you know what I mean?" he continued. "So every night's got that kind of same energy to it, but it's been truly amazing. I'm not usually short for words, but I can't really articulate it." Having played to packed crowds in Cardiff, London, Manchester, Dublin and Edinburgh, Oasis have scheduled dates around the world including in major cities across the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and Japan. It's rumoured the band will continue their run of shows next year, when it marks 30 years since they played two sell-out nights at Knebworth Park to an estimated 250,000 people. When quizzed on the rumours on talkSport, Noel quickly changed the subject, saying: "Right, let's talk about football."
Daily Mail
37 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Stars who look better in their 50s than they did in their 20s - as Karren Brady unveils a VERY glamorous glow-up
Astonishing selfies posted this week by Karren Brady on social media revealed The Apprentice star's glamorous new makeover - and it was so dramatic, the photos left some of her fans questioning if it was actually really her. Baroness Brady, 56, is a grandmother whose career spans more than 30 years in the spotlight - she became Managing Director of Birmingham City when she was just 23 in 1993. And yet, thanks to a physical transformation in recent months that now sees her with a tiny waist, glowing youthful skin and voluminous, flowing hair, she wouldn't look out of place in a line-up of twentysomething Gen Z models. The reality TV star, who's current vice-chairman of West Ham, appears to have undergone a head-to-toe overhaul so dramatic that she's succeeded in turned back the ageing clock. Photos of her posing in the stands at St Andrew's stadium in 1995, wearing a pussy-bow blouse in Birmingham blue, looked mature and corporate - a huge contrast to the more playful attire of her current wardrobe, including the pretty lace dress - cinched in with a Chanel belt - in her most recent photos to her 237,000 Instagram followers. Brady isn't the only famous face that is laughing in the face of a sixth decade, with a host of celebrities looking more youthful now than they did in their twenties, thanks to a raft of hi-tech anti-ageing treatments. So glowing and youthful are certain famous faces that they appear to be living the plot of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the 2008 film starring Brad Pitt - also currently a West End stage hit - about a man who ages in reverse. Brady has always been frank about her appreciation of aesthetic enhancements, having previously disclosed she'd had a £3,500 'invisible facelift, and this week gushing about a skin-tightening treatment, Exion, that, she says, has given her the confidence to wear short-sleeved dresses again. The former MD of Birmingham City as she looked when she ran the Midlands football club in her twenties in the early 90s But which other famous faces appear to be drinking from the fountain of youth - and look younger now than they did 30 years ago? LAUREN SANCHEZ When it comes to global fame, Lauren Sanchez - billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ' wife - was a late bloomer. Wind back the clock thirty years and the now 55-year-old was a budding TV star, who faced countless job rejections, and cut a very different figure to the A-list astronaut image she now enjoys. Always glamourous, the New Mexico-raised celebrity looks fresh-faced in photos taken in the time has been kind to Sanchez and she looks just as youthful as she heads towards the big 60. On her wedding day in Venice earlier this year, the bride looked radiant, donning a chic Dolce and Gabbana wedding gown and revealing a stunning diamond ring. New York City plastic surgeon Dr Elie Levine told the Daily Mail earlier this year that the glamorous philanthropist has perhaps softened her natural look with enhancements. 'I think with Sanchez, it's not a question so much of what she's had done but of what she's had undone,' said Dr Levine. 'Her midface and cheek area is still pronounced, but not as much as it was before, and the bottom of her face is not as, for want of a better word, distorted as it was before. 'She has definitely done something: either dissolved fillers or simply not added more fillers.' Sanchez has never confirmed she's had plastic surgery or fillers, though it has been alleged that she's had a facelift, breast augmentation, rhinoplasty, fillers in her cheeks and lips and Botox. The Daily Mail has previously reached out to her team for comment. For telly fans who grew up watching Carol Vorderman outsmart everyone as Countdown's maths whizz, how the presenter looks now isn't what many tuning in the 80s might have expected. Carol, 64, has got ever more glamorous with each decade, apparently finding the elixir of youth in her forties and still enjoying it twenty years on. The politically-minded brainbox, who's just released a book outlining her own manifesto for change, regularly shows off her enviable figure on Instagram via a carousel of figure-hugging outfits. The star has long been a supporter of clean eating and following a detox diet, and has even published books on the subject. Her skin - positively plumped and dewy - and the sensible fringe the star sported during her Countdown days have been replaced by flowing highlighted hair. The more sensible twentysomething Carol sported boxy sensible trouser suits and plain dresses for her early appearances on the Channel 4 show. For many fans, Carol's major style transformation began in the late 1990s following the arrival of her two children, when she ditched her dowdy looks for more form-fitting dresses. In 2000, the star split from her second husband, management consultant Patrick King after 10 years of marriage. At the time the star credited her weight loss with following a detox diet, and even released a VHS and book documenting the 28-day plan. By 2011, Carol had been crowned Rear Of The Year - and was a bonafide sex symbol. While remaining coy about any enhancements, Vorderman said last year that she has a 'no f***s given' approach to ageing. She said: 'Everyone on telly has Botox. I look the way I do because it makes me happy. But you get to a point in life where it's no f***s given. I love what David Bowie said about ageing: "You become the person you always should have been." 'My sixties is the age I always should have been. The abuse I get is off the scale but I don't give a monkey's. Actually it spurs me on.' She also told how she has actually never had a boob job but that she went up three cup sizes when she went through menopause. AMANDA HOLDEN The Britain's Got Talent star is known for her flawlessly toned physique, age-defying complexion and flesh-baring outfits, with the 54-year-old ageing like a fine wine. Earlier this year, in an interview with Mail+, the star revealed how her beauty regime includes everything from £9.99 eyelashes to a blow-dry service alongside L'Oreal shampoo, skin and facial treatments and state-of-the-art home gym equipment. 'Never give up. Do what you want as long as it's in moderation', she said of how she maintains her immaculate looks - saying she's up for any treatment as long as it's 'not invasive'. The Britain's Got Talent star with former husband Les Dennis at the premier of Girls Night in the late 90s. Right: Pictured in 1998 at the National Television Awards The star says her glowing skin 'is mainly down to good genetics' but loves a facial therapy sculpting massage and keeps loose, crepey skin at bay with AgeJet Plasma Skin Therapy treatment. Alongside a raft of other treatments, the celebrity is a known fan of LED masks, saying: 'I adore my Maysama Prana LED Light Therapy mask, which I use three to five times a week for six minutes.' Mother-of-two Holden first shot to temporary fame on Cilla Black's Blind Date in the early 90s. The then 20-year-old wasn't picked on the dating show but her appearance put her in the spotlight and four years later she was dating future husband Les Dennis. JENNIFER LOPEZ Popstar and actress Jennifer Lopez has been in the public eye since the 1990s, scoring her first TV acting job in 1994 at the age of 24. With her wavy hair and sophisticated style, she was undoubtedly striking then - but that was nothing compared to now. Today, with more than 30 years in showbusiness behind her, the US performer appears to have defied the ageing process. The mother-of-two, who starred in the award-winning film Hustlers, has admitted that maintaining a youthful appearance requires serious effort. She has previously identified a rigorous diet, an 'intense' workout routine and a fiercely strict sleep schedule as absolutely key. Jennifer even once suggested that she diets constantly, having revealed that she eats roughly 1,400 calories a day - 600 calories less than women are generally advised to consume - which sometimes leaves her 'starving' between meals. But it's not only the star's lithe body that makes it seem that she's ageing backwards. Her super-glam make-up and ever-changing hairstyles, not to mention her expansive designer wardrobe, mean that at 56 she looks better than she did in her 20s. In a recent, sultry campaign for Italian intimates and loungewear brand Intimissimi, Bronx-born Jennifer, who has always denied she's had plastic surgery, showed off her youthful looks. 'Intimissimi's New Silky Intimates is a perfect collection - it's classic in style and the fabrics are luxe,' she said of the campaign. 'It's so important to feel comfortable and empowered in the pieces that are closest to your skin, and this collection does just that... And as always, it's absolutely gorgeous.' GILLIAN ANDERSON Gillian Anderson shot to fame in her 20s as Dana Scully in the X-Files but, now 57, the American actress has never looked better. The mother-of-three, who says she's never had plastic surgery, was named global ambassador for L'Oréal Paris, the world's largest beauty brand, earlier this year. Gillian, who played journalist Emily Maitlis in last year's Scoop, the dramatisation of Maitlis' 2019 car-crash interview with Prince Andrew, has been praised as an excellent example of 'ageing well' by London-based plastic surgeon Mr Mark Solomos. Speaking to the Daily Mail last summer, Mr Solomos said: 'Gillian is the perfect example of "How to age well". 'Her features are soft and pretty but again she's a fair skinned beauty who has done well to keep out of the sun, wear a good SPF and work hard to look after her skin. 'Her body shape has barely changed, and this would be the result of again following a good diet and working out with a trainer most days.' While Gillian, who has gained a new fanbase thanks to her role in Sex Education, does use high-end lotions on her skin, she has said she feels less of urgency to try to look younger thanks to the time she's spent in Europe, where she's starred in numerous theatre productions. 'I think in Europe, in general, there's a sense that women who age naturally can be beautiful,' she said previously. 'Whereas I'm not so sure that's the perception in America, specifically in L.A. I think that it's seen as a flaw, somehow—like wrinkles are a flaw.' And, in last year's L'Oréal campaign she reiterated her refreshing view on ageing when she said: 'They say your best years are behind you. I'm just getting started. 'I wish that in those early years I would not have wasted so much time on my doubts. Age has never been a limit, it's an advantage. My advice for facing doubt is to say f*** you. I leap before I give myself a chance to be afraid.
Daily Mail
37 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
I am so disappointed by Karren Brady. She has traded in her inspirational boardroom chic to be a Kardashian clone... and I know the sad reason why: SUSANNAH JOWITT
Karren Brady is a hero of mine. Exactly my age at 56, she's an icon I've always worshipped: a woman of hard head and good sense, flying a feminine flag in a man's world. With just a jut of her chin she turns all footballers, Apprentices, her gorgeous husband and, now that she's Baroness Brady, the Lords of the realm, into putty in her hands. She is an inspiration to those who want to flourish not by denying our femininity but by flaunting it.
