The Underworld

Sofie Laguna’s power as a writer is her ability to recall that time in all of our lives – those teenage years – when you hover between certainty and loss. For young women, this 

hovering time is also when we realise that men, overall, do not experience the world like we do. What we do with that knowledge, what we do with all knowledge, is determined by our surrounds, and by that, I mean, our own network of friends and family. The story in The Underworld centres on 14-year-old Martha as she scrutinises herself in response to her newfound knowledge about life.

To do so, she refers often to her learnings from ancient history – one that includes the Roman underworld and all the Roman gods that warned of consequences. It is a bewitching formula. To compare oneself and one’s responses to the reactions of a god makes sense for a teenager, because life is dramatic and there are potholes along the road.

The story opens with Martha (studious and shy) and her mother (aloof and fancy) on a weekend away, far from Martha’s boarding school where boundaries create a safeguard and her friends provide a connection to the here and now. Without these friends, would Martha be in free fall, or is she already? Her hormones are racing and all options about who she is are up for consideration.

This novel is a wild journey of being 14 and so it should be. Personally, I am very relieved that part of my life is over, but this novel brought back the painful parts – those insidious parts – of being young and untethered. At times, it made uncomfortable reading. However, this ambitious novel also reminded me to listen closely to our young people, and provide support.