Tenderfoot is the eighth novel by award-winning, bestselling Australian author, Toni Jordan. One Tuesday in late August, 1975, twelve-year-old Andrea Tanner’s secure, predictable life pivots: at school, she is abruptly and, to her adolescent brain, unfairly friendless. At home, the father she idolises has unexpectedly gone without saying goodbye, taking three of their beloved greyhounds with him. What does this mean for her plan, her one ambition, to apprentice as a trainer with him?

She is left with her critical, often irritable mother, whose mercurial moods require vigilant scrutiny. Thank goodness her favourite dog, Tippy is still in her cage under the house, a small comfort. But soon after, Steve Lynch moves in, a replacement for Eddie Tanner with her mother, but not with Andie. She can be polite, as expected, yes, but she Will. Not. Like him.

“My parents and I had a pact. I had done everything they’d asked of me, always, without complaint, yet our family was broken. It wasn’t fair. I refused to stand for it.” Andie is determined to do what she can to effect the return of her father, and the dogs. Only much later does she realise just how unsuited they really were: her father “so self-contained and focused and unfulfilled, heavy with hopes for his life”; her mother “wilful and extravagant and sensuous, incapable of plans that went beyond the next hour.”

Meanwhile, she has thought of a way to reverse the ghosting of her that has infected the whole school, and regain the affections of her once-best-friend, a rather naïve plan that relies on finding a missing cat. Restoring her home situation will require getting some dirt on Steve that will force his removal: easier thought than done, but she is resolute. As immature and unsophisticated as she is, Andie forges ahead with no concept of the real consequences of her actions.

Young and inexperienced she may be, yet Jordan’s protagonist sometimes shows unexpected insight: “The truth is that greyhounds are two animals at the same time – Tippy and Tenderfoot, the gentlest of animals unless you are a small furry creature. It’s simplistic to think that people are either good or bad. People behave the same way dogs do – their nature depends on whether you are a small furry creature or not.” And indeed, several characters do surprise, in different ways.

Jordan’s inclusion of the breeding, training and racing of greyhounds is well-researched and balanced, but also steeped in the authenticity born of personal experience. “Those exquisite animals, all that compact muscle and forward propulsion and desperation. The next twenty-five or thirty or forty seconds are the culmination of the dog’s whole life with us from the moment we picked them up as a puppy: all that feeding and brushing and walking, all that preparation and solicitous care compressed and concentrated. They are triers, the dogs. They are desperate and straining and giving it everything they have. Nothing on earth can stop them.”

Jordan evokes her setting and era with consummate ease and this is a story that will certainly strike a chord with readers of a certain vintage, especially the school scenes and the many popular culture references and social mores. Her support characters will feel familiar to many, their dialogue typical of the time, everyday. An exceptionally moving coming-of-age tale the way only Toni Jordan can tell it.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Hachette Australia

I love Toni Jordan’s writing & I love greyhounds, so on one hand I desperately wanted to read this book, but was also tentative wondering how she would write about the racing industry in 1970’s Brisbane. Whilst there were some brutal facts revealed towards the end of the book, this book was so much more. A coming of age story but also memoir, featuring a young girl, Andie, whose life changed the year she turned 12.

Andie’s parents separate & as she is left with her mother she loses contact with her father & her life with the greyhounds she loves so much. Mourning their loss she has a fractious relationship with her mother & has to navigate a new life with her & her new boyfriend Steve. The writing is wonderful evoking the time & place so well, the heat, the suburbs, school, the corruption, family relationships, growing up & discovering who you are. A great read.

Tenderfoot by Toni Jordan is a beautiful coming of age story set in 1970's Australia . It would be hard not to feel invested in the main character Andie as she navigates the world of greyhound racing , divorce and addiction. It is so specific in some areas of greyhound racing that it feels like it must be first hand knowledge of the author .

I recently saw Toni Jordon interview Marion Keyes and thoroughly enjoyed it ! I have had some of her other books on my kindle for some time so will definitely be tackling them soon !

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette for a copy to read and review !

Tenderfoot by Toni Jordan is releasing in late August, but I'm quite a fan of her work and couldn't wait until closer to that date to read it. This is the fourth novel by Toni I have read, and each of them have been five star reads.

'It becomes clear in those moments that childhood is as much a place as it is a time.'

Tenderfoot is a coming of age story told almost in the style of a memoir, from the perspective of Andie, looking back on the year she was 12, when her life went from being one thing into entirely another. The writing is everything I've come to love about Toni Jordan, witty, honest, deeply introspective, with time and place so neatly woven through the narrative, so much so, that as a reader, you are transported back to Queensland in the 1970s, that wild, corrupt, yet infinitely casual place.

'The truth is, of course, that everyone can be trusted and no one can be, depending on the circumstances.'

This is a story about Queensland childhoods in the 1970s, about greyhound racing, gambling, corruption, bad people who still have the capacity to do good things, mothers and fathers who fall off their pedestals in the most spectacular of ways. There are Boy Swallows Universe vibes with this one, and yet it sits firmly within a class of its own.

'Maturity does not rise smoothly like water filling a tank. Instead, our coming of age is a jerky, unpredictable process, a wild tide coming in on a ragged beach.'

Needless to say, I loved this novel. Towards the end, some truly brutal truths about the history of greyhound racing were disclosed, and these were not easy to read but were nonetheless essential to the telling of this magnificent story. I can't wait for this to be released and to watch the love pour in once again for Toni Jordan.

I absolutely loved this book. Set in 1970s Brisbane, it beautifully captures the innocence and intensity of growing up, with a unique and heartfelt focus on greyhound racing. The writing is vivid and nostalgic, transporting you straight into the sun-soaked suburbs and under-the-house kennels where Andie Tanner's world revolves around her beloved dogs and her dreams of becoming a trainer.

As Andie’s life begins to unravel, the story takes a gripping turn, blending coming-of-age themes with deeper issues of family, loss, and resilience. I was completely absorbed—from the thrill of race night to the quiet heartbreak of Andie's shifting world.

A moving and unforgettable read.