Bellies cover art

Bellies

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Bellies

By: Nicola Dinan
Narrated by: Nathaniel Curtis, Octavia Nyombi
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

It begins as your typical boy meets boy. While out with friends at a university drag night, Tom buys Ming a drink. Confident and witty, a charming young playwright, Ming is the perfect antidote to Tom's awkward energy, and their connection is instant. Tom finds himself deeply and desperately drawn into Ming's orbit, and on the cusp of graduation, he's already mapped out their future together. But, shortly after they move to London to start their next chapter, Ming announces her intention to transition.

From London to Kuala Lumpur, New York to Cologne, we follow Tom and Ming as they face shifts in their relationship in the wake of Ming's transition. Through a spiral of unforeseen crises - some personal, some professional, some life-altering - Tom and Ming are forced to confront the vastly different shapes their lives have taken since graduating, and each must answer the essential question: is it worth losing a part of yourself to become who you are

©2023 Nicola Dinan (P)2023 Penguin Audio City Life Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Romance Urban Witty England

Critic Reviews

"Bellies announces Nicola Dinan as a genuine literary talent, a gimlet-eyed cartographer of the human heart." (Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti)

"Thoughtful, seductive, and entirely engrossing - Bellies is already a classic." (Bryan Washington, author of Memorial and Lot)

"Smart, hilarious and deeply moving." (Elliot Page, author of Pageboy)
All stars
Most relevant  
I enjoyed this book overall. I found the story interesting and I liked learning about the nuances in Tom and Ming’s relationship over the years. At times I found the story got a bit slow and but all in all it was enjoyable enough.

I found the narration a bit tricky to follow at times, it wasn’t always clear to me whether what was being said was just thoughts or actual dialogue, and if dialogue then whose. I also grew irritated by Octavia Nyombi’s (voice of Ming) tendency to end many sentences with an upward inflection as though it was a question when it wasn’t. (I suppose having only heard this story on audible and not read a physical copy, I can’t be sure this isn’t actually how Ming’s character was written, but my assumption is that this isn’t the case - please feel free to correct if this is wrong)

Interesting storyline, interesting characters

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.