'Tenderfoot is magnificent. Deeply moving. Beautiful. Powerful' TRENT DALTON

By the bestselling, award-winning author of Addition, an exhilarating novel about coming of age in 1970s Australia

Wait for the boxes to open, wait for the race to begin. Wait, and your greyhound will cease to be the dog you know and become an entirely different kind of animal.

Brisbane, 1975: Andie Tanner's world is small but whole. Her mum is complicated, but she adores her dad and the kennel of racing greyhounds that live under their house. Andie is a serious girl with plans: finish school with her friends, then apprentice to her father until she can become a greyhound trainer, with dogs of her very own.

But real life rarely goes to plan, and the world is bigger and more complicated than Andie could imagine. When she loses everything she cares about - her family, her friends, the dogs - it's up to Andie to reclaim her future. She will need all her wits to survive this new reality of secrets and half-truths, addictions and crime.

With luminous, aching prose, Tenderfoot will move you like no other story this year.

'Extraordinary . . . With its precise prose and balance of immediacy and hindsight, Tenderfoot has the makings of an Australian classic' The Guardian

'A fierce and often sobering depiction of the helplessness of childhood and the fragile hold adults have over their own lives . . . Tenderfoot is both moving and clever; I was arrested from the opening chapter. By the end, I was reaching for the tissue box.' ABC News

'The prose sparkles with authenticity that induces nostalgic pleasure and almost painful clangs of recognition . . . The book is gently gripping. It's hard to put down, yet it takes its time, allowing the reader to soak up every detail of the meticulously recreated 1970s suburbia.' The Australian Women's Weekly

'Emotionally insightful, thoughtfully plotted, captivating. A richly detailed portrait of a retro suburban Australian childhood' Books+Publishing

'Incredible . . . It kept me up all night' The Age

'A feat of delicate foreshadowing and reflection . . . Jordan convincingly, and seemingly easily, occupies the interior world of a child. Andie's voice remains seamless and believable. The effect is sometimes funny, quite often devastating.' The Conversation

'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.' Good Reading Magazine

'Magnif

Details

ISBN13: 9780733651823
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 336
Edition:
Publication Date: 26 Aug 2025
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Publication City, Country: Sydney,Australia
Dimensions (cm): 23.3(H)x15.3(L)x2.5(W)410
Weight (gm): 410

Author Biography

Toni Jordan has worked as a molecular biologist, quality control chemist, TAB operator and door-to-door aluminium siding salesperson. She is the author of the international bestseller Addition, which was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and has been adapted into a feature film, in cinemas in 2026. Her novel Nine Days was awarded Best Fiction at the 2012 Indie Awards and was named in Kirkus Reviews' top 10 Historical Novels of 2013; 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 has been published widely in newspapers and magazines. She holds a Bachelor of Science in physiology and a PhD in Creative Arts and lives in Melbourne. Tenderfoot is her eighth novel.

Reviews