On the surface, Tenderfoot by Toni Jordan is the poignant, heartfelt story of 12-year-old Andie Tanner, an earnest and bookish only child navigating the upheaval of her parents’ divorce in mid-1970s Brisbane. But it is so much more than that.
Tenderfoot refers to the racing name of a greyhound, Tippy, a beautiful dog owned and raced by Andie’s parents and deeply loved by Andie herself. The world of greyhound racing with its disparate cast of breeders, punters, and the dogs themselves, is woven through the novel with nuance and insight.
The story shifts seamlessly across timelines, beginning with Andie’s early days in Brisbane, where she lives with her parents who have a fractured relationship, to the present-day
adult Andie.
Life does not go as Andie planned, and as an adult Andie needs to gradually piece together the truths of her childhood and to begin to understand how these experiences shaped the woman she has become.
Readers who grew up in Australia in the ’70s will feel a strong pang of recognition in the vivid details: the sticky joy of orange Sunny Boys on a blistering day, the comforting roof-of-the-mouth burn of Campbell’s Tomato Soup in winter, the unspoken codes of the school playground and the parenting styles that would bring immediate condemnation today but back then were perfectly acceptable.
The gentle, swift greyhounds, so calm off the track and yet driven by a fierce instinct on it, become a potent metaphor for the duality of human nature. In one heartbreaking moment, Jordan writes: ‘Only when it is too late do you discover that the thing you would have died for was made of tin, without a heart. It was not worthy of your sacrifice.’
Tenderfoot is a powerful, tender and unforgettable novel. It explores love, loss, and the bittersweet process of growing up with clarity, compassion and a deep understanding of the human heart. It’s a masterclass in voice and characterisation.
Reviewed by Maryanne Vagg
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE AUTHORToni Jordan is the author of the international bestseller Addition, which was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and adapted into a feature film, in cinemas in 2026.
Her novel Nine Days was awarded Best Fiction at the 2012 Indie Awards; Our Tiny, Useless Hearts was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award; and her two Schnabel family novels, Dinner with the Schnabels and Prettier if She Smiled More, were critically acclaimed.
Toni holds a Bachelor of Science in physiology and a PhD in Creative Arts and lives in Melbourne.
0 Comments