Beneath Our Feet Jack Hartley

Beneath Our Feet Jack Hartley Title: Beneath Our Feet. Author: Jack Hartley. Scholastic (2025) 256 pages, paperback. ISBN 978 1 77543 919 6

Christchurch, 23 February 2011. That’s a date many of us will never forget but Alfie has a double reason to remember it. Not only was that the day when he was caught up in Christchurch’s worst earthquake, but it was also the day (and the reason) that a heart became available for Alfie’s badly-needed heart transplant. The story begins as Alfie, recovering from his heart surgery, tries to resume a normal life in a disrupted Christchurch. ‘The heart was a perfect match,’ enthuses his mother, but Alfie feels challenged, ‘I hate that I’m weak now.’ Back at school, Alfie encounters the novel’s second narrator, Dani, who has the same cancer that killed her mother. Dani has just learned that her own cancer is fatal, and so she is drawing up her bucket list. Because of their heightened emotions, Alfie and Dani each spot the symptoms of sadness in the other. Their first encounter is mutually embarrassing, but the pair’s desperate need to have someone to talk to means they are soon deep in serious conversation. At this point the story takes a brilliant imaginative leap. Dani persuades Alfie to come with her into the cordoned-off central city so she can return to the spot in Latimer Square where she first learned of her late mother’s cancer. They find the area strangely quiet but a good place to talk. Later they realise that something remarkable happened when they slipped through the fence. Time stopped around them while they were inside the cordon. They experiment and find that they can move through the CBD while, beyond the barricade, people, birds and vehicles appear motionless. When they come back out, movement resumes and no time has passed. They have a world of their own inside the cordon barricade. What follows is a poignant love story. Alfie hopes that Dani can live inside the CBD cordon, ‘not feeling the pain waiting for her in the outside world.’ Dani is more realistic, ‘I’m Stage 4, Alfie, it doesn’t work like that.’ Alfie has difficulty accepting Dani’s fate, but he helps her complete her bucket list. Dani has written her wish that she wants to ‘leave my mark.’ In the few hours they share together, Alfie finds a way for her to fulfil this wish. Jack Hartley has written a brilliant novel, creating two convincing 18-year-old narrators, each with their own distinctive voice. Despite the serious problems these young adults face, it is also understandable that they behave in adolescent ways sometimes. Alfie hotwires a car to demonstrate drifting to Dani and there is a drunken teen party that is every mother’s nightmare. The parents in the novel are sympathetically shown, even as they irritate their offspring by being over-protective. The atmosphere of post-quake Canterbury is well captured with period touches, such as the army patrols and the sharing of surviving school buildings. There is also a great deal of wry humour, including a genteel looting expedition to Christchurch’s poshest shop. A street map is included to enable non-Cantabrians to follow events. Particularly enjoyable is the skilful portrayal of the touchy relationship between Dani’s father and Alfie, which makes the uplifting conclusion of this tragic romance even more moving. Jack Hartley has created a YA romantasy, a love story that is both readable and thought-provoking. For people not familiar with Christchurch’s CBD, Jack has drawn a sketch map. Be warned, there is some strong language in this novel; the nastiest words are Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. Trevor Agnew, 25 Sept 2025 (Review 3800)