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A Language of Limbs

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A Language of Limbs

By: Dylin Hardcastle
Narrated by: Stevie McKeon
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About this listen

LONGLISTED FOR THE STELLA PRIZE 2025


The first love of a teenage girl is a powerful thing, particularly when the object of that desire is her best friend, also a girl. It's the kind of power that could implode a family, a friendship, a life. On a quiet summer night in Newcastle, 1972, a choice must be made: to act upon these desires, or suppress them? To live an openly queer life, or to try desperately not to?

Over the following three decades, two lives almost intersect in pivotal moments, the distance between them at times drawing so thin they nearly collide. Against the backdrop of an era including Australia's first Mardi Gras and the AIDS pandemic, we see these two lives ebb and flow, with joy and grief and loss and desire, until at last they come together in the most beautiful and surprising of ways.

A Language of Limbs is about love and how it's policed, friendship and how it transcends, and hilarity in the face of heartbreak. An unashamed celebration of queer life in all its vibrancy and colour, this story finds the humanity in all of us, and demands we claim our futures for ourselves.


LONGLISTED FOR THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK DESIGN AWARDS 2025 BEST DESIGNED LITERARY FICTION/POETRY COVER


©2024 Dylin Hardcastle (P)2024 Macmillan Australia Audio Coming of Age Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Romance Heartfelt

Critic Reviews

'I loved it' Hannah Kent

'An instant queer classic' Benjamin Law

'Poetic, fresh and mesmerising . . . I am desperate for more stories like this' Jessie Stephens

'A life-affirming, deeply felt novel of the decisions we make and the lives that unspool from them. To read A Language of Limbs is to be reminded of the power of queer joy and community. I loved it.' Hannah Kent

'Poetic, fresh and mesmerising, Hardcastle's work is like nothing I have ever read. A Language of Limbs is full of feeling; a love story about the family we make ourselves. Upon finishing this book I was overwhelmed by a sense of, more. I am desperate for more stories like this.' Jessie Stephens

'Dylin Hardcastle's novel carried me away like a tidal current. Expansive across time, yet intimate in its focus, A Language of Limbs is that rare book that's equally poetic and propulsive - with twin protagonists who are impossible to shake. Nothing short of an instant queer classic.' Benjamin Law
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Story was great- very enjoyable. What was going on with the Welsh accents? variable throughout

Enjoyable

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a story of parallel lives, joy and yearning and tragedy.
Absolutely beautiful writing.
It was emotive and lyrical and heart breaking.

beuatiful

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Throughout listening to this audiobook I have had every emotion in me scratched raw…and so many memories of times gone by…of people around me living through this period…I, witnessing the struggle but not fully understanding the detail, due to my own immaturity at the time. I am grateful to have listened to this as it has helped me piece together my life that ran alongside those who were on another trajectory to mine. This text and the performance are outstanding! Thank you!

Overwhelmed but enlightened

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I loved this book, the writing is poignant and beautiful. The story and characters rich and deeply interesting. However I wish I had not listened to the prologue or dedication at the start of the book, until after I had read the book. The prologue itself is an important heartfelt piece of writing and deserves full attention.

For me, as someone who likes to "go in cold" to a book as much as I can, the prologue contains several key plot-spoilers in the form of warnings, such that it detracted somewhat from the reveal of the story once reading the book, already knowing how some things were going to play out long before the reveal on the page. I wish i'd read (listened) to it after i had finsihed the book.

The narration of this work is also incredible and gripping.

Skip the prologue until after you've read the book

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I loved listening to each story unfold. Listening to each love story grow and change. There are many phrases from the book I repeated to myself again and again. The elements of Australian history woven in gave it extra gravity. I loved it.

Poetic

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Reads like a poem of whole lives weaving together - despite the forces that come to tear them apart.
There is passion and meaning in these pages of beauty and pain.
Thank you Dylin

Heart art with soul, history and purpose

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Dylin Hardcastle's "Language of Limbs" is a heartfelt, heartbreaking, historical story. The weaving of worlds that never quite touch due to the sliding door moments, choices and experiences brings together 2 stories so full of love, struggles, pain and pleasure. Loved this book

Heartfelt, heartbreaking, full of love

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.