Bellies by  Nicola Dinan

Bellies

Nicola Dinan

This isn’t a long novel but I came away feeling that I had been on a journey with the characters. Sometimes I loved them, sometimes I thought they were awful, but I was completely absorbed in their story. Transitioning is only a part - because the book is also about friendship, family and love, delivered through a story that exudes snark, exuberant youthfulness, and dances around everyone’s longing to be seen for who they really are.

Extract

I take another key.  I don’t rush on drugs as much as I used to, and that makes going to parties hard.  There’s a tipping point that comes on nights like these. Where I go from feeling hot to seeing stubble that isn’t there, and to inspecting hair on women’s upper lips to see if the amount I have left is natural.

Parallels
  • Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
  • Variations by Juliet Jacques