Dark Like Under

An Independent Best Book to Look Out For in 2025

At an elite secondary school in the English countryside, students and teachers cope with a sudden loss.

In the aftermath of a surprising death, students and teachers at an English school grapple with their grief. Yet the bell continues to ring, and normal life—lessons, arguments, flirtations—goes on. As the heat of the late spring day intensifies, allegiances strain and rivalries escalate, and old secrets start to surface. Set against a backdrop of strikes, economic unrest, and the stratified milieus of a small town in the 1980s, Dark Like Under thrums with the richly detailed inner lives of its varied cast of characters. Alice Chadwick's luminous debut captures the promise and risk of late adolescence in a profound exploration of resilience and connection, frustration and grief, renewal and the legacies we leave.