Bellies: ‘A beautiful love story’ Irish Times

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I haven't felt so seen by a book in a long time. Neither have I cried like that at one. Bellies broke me apart in the best way possible. Dinan is a huge talent and I'll read everything she writes. Annie Lord, Vogue columnist and author of Notes on Heartbreak 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. It’s a long list, so I’ll just share a few. David Sedaris was a bit of a revelation when I read him as a teenager – not just because of how funny and beautifully crafted his essays were, but because of the way he wrote about his relationship. I tried to bring the combination of petty arguments, shared experiences and simple but sincere acts of love to my fictional relationships. And then there’s Norah Ephron, whose novels, essays and screenplays seem to be written off the cuff, but are in fact beautifully detailed and precise. ND: I have a Bellies playlist! It was fun to think about what music goes with each chapter – the novel has a very nostalgic feel to it, because it draws on this nostalgic time, being in your early twenties at university and finishing university. It’s also situated in the late 2010s and early 2020, so there’s a specific period it’s drawing on. You’ve got some Shygirl in there, some Hot Chip, a good chunk of Azealia Banks, and there are songs that are specifically referenced in the book like Aphex Twin and Don’t Stop Now by Dua Lipa. And it ends on Ribs by Lorde, of course. As I said, Ghost Girl, Banana was really written in tribute to my mum and so from the start I was very much focussed on doing her story and her experiences justice, albeit through fiction. I think this also helped me write with a sense of nothing to lose, which is the unique gift of a debut author. There was no expectation there and therefore no cynicism to the process!

Although dealing intimately with love, Dinan does not characterise the novel explicitly as a love story. She says: “I suppose it is a love story, but in a lot of ways it’s a subversion… It subverts the tropes of a love story in that Ming’s journey creates this fundamental incompatibility between Tom and Ming. So these two characters are left to negotiate what love actually is. That is the story: two characters negotiating what love can be between two people when other things are in the way.” It’s not actually helpful to the cause to have these perfect characters, because when you create a solely virtuous narrative around a group of people, people look for ways to prove that wrong How does it feel to send something you’ve put so much time and creative endeavour into, out into the wider world? A youthful and urgent look at relationships, family, gender expression, intimacy and trust. Mendez, author of Rainbow MilkWhat I really tried to do with Bellies is create a cast of characters, that touch on themes beyond transness and more, essentially, as to what it means to be in your early 20s and finding your way in the world at a time where life is very confusing, and you don't have a full handle on who you are as a person despite the world expecting that you do. Regardless of the angles through which people might relate to that, Bellies is trying to touch on that core feeling of not quite knowing where you belong.

The synopsis says: “It begins as your typical boy meets boy. At a drag night in a university town, Tom meets Ming. Ming is what Tom wants and wants to be: a promising young playwright; confident and witty and a perfect antidote to Tom’s awkward energy. They fall hard for each other, but when Ming announces her decision to transition, the pair must confront that love may not be enough. I didn’t think too much about a target market or anything when I was writing the book, but I always had a reader in mind, and I tried to tell the story the way I’d share an anecdote or a piece of gossip with a friend; sharp, clear and funny. As a trans woman, Dinan has her own experience of transitioning. In Bellies, she was keen to look at something “which is seen as so personal” from the perspective of someone one step removed. “I was interested in what it meant to be on the outside of someone else’s experience—and an experience that is deeply personal to them, like someone’s transness.” It was also important to her to offer a more pluralised view of queer and trans identities which, at times in fiction, can be relatively one-note. “[Ming] does things and you think, ‘Oh my God, you’re awful’ or, ‘You’re being awful in this moment’. But at the same time, just like the rest of us she is allowed to be...” Elaborating, she says: “There’s an impetus to create this virtuous image of a trans person who can do no wrong. I find that very limiting…I want trans people to have the freedom to be a bit shit too.” Instead she advocates for fully fleshed-out, authentic, multitudinous representation. “If we truly want to aim for fiction being an effective way to raise empathy for disenfranchised and marginalised communities, we have to write characters that are fallible. It’s not actually helpful to the cause to have these perfect characters, because when you create a solely virtuous narrative around a group of people, people look for ways to prove that wrong.” Picture this Dinan's debut had me sold on premise alone. Then it completely won me through its complex relationships, immersive travels, found family, honest conversations, and mouthwatering descriptions of Malaysian food. Paste MagazineYou know an animal trusts you when it shows you its belly — the softest, most vulnerable part of the body, kept hidden as an almost instinctive act of protection. Between people, too, being vulnerable and opening up to others with our hopes, insecurities, and fears is the greatest act of confidence. Nicola Dinan's gorgeous, masterful debut novel is built around the shape of the connections that make space for such exposure; the acts of friendship and intimacy that allow us to show people our bellies. A beautiful book. Thoroughly enjoyed it even if it did make me cry several times (I'm very emotional). Bellies by Nicola Dinan is a beautifully bittersweet depiction of the seismic changes of early adulthood with unforgettably funny, spiky, believable main characters. Leon Craig, author of Parallel Hells I decided I wanted to write something in honour of both her and all the other hidden women from that time who contributed so much to the UK, even as they were derided for their differences. It was a tribute, more than anything; a love letter to thank her for all the opportunities and cultural richness she had given to me as a woman of diverse heritage. It was only as I started writing that I realised how much our respective journeys converged in terms of identity and that search for belonging which led to the idea of telling the stories of a mother and daughter in tandem.

Bellies, the debut novel from Nicola Dinan, is a fresh and compelling literary romance that hopefully signposts exactly where the much-saturated genre is heading in the future. EC: You’re currently adapting Bellies for the screen; the atmosphere of the book feels so distinct that I found myself wondering, was there any music you’d want to use in a TV adaptation, or that you think would be good to listen to while reading it? A luminous depiction of what it's like to love someone for their very soul. Nicola is a beautiful, beautiful writer. Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us Written by Nicola Dinan, who grew up in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur and studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University before training as a lawyer, Bellies is a captivating read, heady with the whirlwind feelings of early-twenties post-university life: it’s sensual, witty, nostalgic and captures the dizzying feeling that the world has both massively expanded and become scarier, less warm. But the novel is underpinned by both a sharp, piercing intelligence and a boundless sense of compassion. Everyone hurts other people, particularly when they are young and selfish and scared, and yet most people are trying their best; they can grow, repair, do better. Beyond just being a love story, Bellies is a relationships story, unsparing yet optimistic about our abilities to understand each other, connect to each other and heal. At its best, Bellies is as deep as it is chic, propelled by the good intentions dropped between different wavelengths, a sensitive study of the challenge of moving past judgment towards perception.My debut novel, Bellies, has two protagonists. There’s Tom, a white, middle-class Mark Fisher-and-techno-loving boy from south London (sorry). And then there’s Ming, an exuberant playwright from Malaysia who suffers from OCD. They fall in love at university – seemingly as two gay men – but after moving to London following graduation, Ming comes out as trans. After graduating, the pair move in with Tom’s parents in south London. Contrary to his lefty politics, Tom launches a career in finance. He struggles to sync his desires with Ming’s increasingly feminised body – which he describes as “strong-armed into a kind of anti-pubescence”. As Ming better sees herself as a trans woman, she emerges from the image that Tom still carries with him. Moving from London to Kuala Lumpur, New York to Cologne, Bellies follows two queer students, Tom and Ming, who fall in love at university and find their relationship dramatically upended when Ming comes out as trans and decides to transition.

It’s exciting. Writing can be so private. Having a book in shops makes my career as a novelist feel much more material. The book tour was so rewarding, it was the first time I was able to talk about the book in a way that extended beyond small talk at dinner parties, and it took me as far as Tbilisi. At the same time, I worry a lot. The book is a project close to my heart, but as a result of its release it's transformed into a product. I can’t help but fret over whether people are buying it, reading it, burning it.Dinan grew up in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, and now calls London home. Bellies is her first novel, for which she was shortlisted for the Mo Siewcharran Prize. She is a graduate of the Faber Academy Writing A Novel course. Jury Head Baz Luhrmann on Attending Red Sea Film Fest Amid Regional Conflict: "Voices of Storytellers Need to Get Out There"