
Member Reviews

Reading A Language of Limbs left me with the distinct ache of having lived multiple lives in parallel—lives shaped not by certainty, but by the quiet, devastating gravity of indecision. This book taught me that love doesn’t always announce itself with clarity, and that the choices we make—or don’t—can ripple across time in ways we only understand years later. It illuminated how desire, when silenced, doesn't disappear but instead rearranges the self, and how tenderness can survive even in exile. What makes this one of my favorite reads of the year is its rare ability to hold contradiction: joy and sorrow, longing and fulfillment, humor and heartbreak—all tangled together with grace. I came up for air after finishing it and realized my body had been holding something for me the whole time.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this e-arc!

4.75
This was so heartbreaking and beautiful with some of the most unique prose and narrative structure I have encountered in a long time. Such an interesting metaphor with limbs and the different paths that life can take. This was beautifully and lyrically written with beautiful poetry and language. So many queer people’s experiences are tied to pain and injustice, and both of these characters experiences in this novel demonstrate this fact. I was really impacted by the way the author drew comparisons between COVID and AIDS, how covid was not the first pandemic for many. This was ultimate really emotional and a story I feel will really stick with me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review

Language of Limbs is a tender novel, poetic and insightful. You follow two timelines of a queer Australian teen, one in which they are outed [spoiler](assaulted and kicked out)[spoiler] and one in which they suppres their queerness. Queerness in this novel spans sexuality, gender, and political spaces. The conversation exists between generations; amongst cis and trans folks; and on college campuses, at home, and in community hubs.
It's hard to recommend books that might devastate you, but I'm so grateful we have words like these and a heart like Hardcastle's to tell our shared story. To remind us of the fear and violence, historical and present, but to also connect us to the freedom and joy we find, together.
I recommend checking the contents before reading.

A beautiful story about lovee and identity. My only issue with this book was that the story and the characters themselves get lost within all the flowery language.

Ouch I am hurt and will never emotionally recover from the beauty and devastation within this book. This was one of the most beautifully written books that I’ve ever read in my entire life. The way the two stories overlapped and paralleled each other until the very end when they finally came together was incredible. I have goosebumps even thinking about this book and know it will stay with me for a very long time.

While I think the writing is beautiful and could relate to the themes in the book, it was hard for me to get through. For most of the book, I thought it was one narrator living two parallel lives but it’s actually two narrators. Nonetheless, the themes of sexuality and identity were written and explored well and I liked how the narrators were split up by limbs. I thought that was very interesting. I also like the history aspect of the book as well.
Thank you to the publishers for the opportunity of reading this book as an E-arc <3

This book follows three decades starting with a teenage girl in the Australian suburbs in the 70s. Her two lives split in the storytelling when on one track she’s caught with another girl and her life implodes, in another she suppresses her love deep down. Each chapter flips between the two timelines and of course sometimes they intersect and this book will make your heart squeeze a billion times.
What’s so beautiful about this story to me is that there is no single right choice or path, it would be easy if the message of this book was that the openly queer timeline was “better” but life isn’t just the one splitting moment, it’s so much of what comes after, the AIDS crisis, the grief that affects every timeline, the friends and the art and the love in every world, and what can’t be suppressed no matter how hard you try.
The first (and not last) quote that made me sob 🥲:
Dave asks, you ever been in love? And because of what I’m afraid I’ll say next, I just nod silently. He makes a hm sound, then asks, had a boyfriend before? I shake my head. Ah, he says. I didn’t think so. Then he asks, quieter now, what’s her name?
(So grateful to be a #DuttonPartner and for @duttonbooks sending me a free book because I’m afraid I wouldn’t have heard about it otherwise!)

I’m DNF-ing this book, and since I read 55% I’m counting it as read (my rule is if I read half I gave the book a fair chance). This is one of those books where things happen, but there’s no plot/direction. I didn’t feel attached to any of the characters. I don’t know much about the author, but the novel read like it was written by a poet, and I don’t like novels written by poets. I enjoyed the perspective of the person who ran away more than the one who’s drowning in comphet (or maybe it’s actual bisexuality? Idk). I’m a lesbian, I don’t care about how much you love (?) your husband. For the longest time I thought the two characters were alternate realities for the same person, but apparently that’s not the case.
I recommend this to readers who like no plot just vibes books. Personally I needed more substance.

"And I saw new heavens and a new earth"
After reading this beautiful mix of poetry & prose, I truly feel that my words cannot do justice to how breathtaking this novel is. In A Language of Limbs, we are immersed in the stories of 2 queer women, living drastically different lives, but as these stories progress, their symmetry starts to unfold and their lives converge. Hardcastle writes of young queer yearning & the heartbreak of being unloved by those who you thought were family, but also of queer joy as resistance & the euphoria of finding our own skin. As the story is set during the height of the AIDS epidemic, I definitely recommend checking the trigger warnings. Not even halfway through 2025 and I am confident in saying this will be a favorite for the year.
Thank you Penguin Group Dutton & NetGalley for the ARC! I am already ecstatic at the thought of purchasing a physical copy of my own and doing a re-read. I LOVE BEING GAY!!!!!!

This novel is both breathtaking and devastating, wrapped up in eloquent and poetic prose. I enjoyed reading this so much.. The characters are complicated and you can't help but love and care about their plight. The struggles faced by the young, queer community and the two young teens in this novel was both heartbreaking and eye opening. This is a novel I will definitely revisit in the future.

This was such a joyful read. I enjoyed this so much. I typically don't go for the will-they-won't-they won't they tropes, but this one was done perfectly. This novel had me laughing and crying, and smiling. I recommend this as your next read.

A solid queer coming of age that I’m sure many will enjoy but I never connected with it. My mistake was not heeding that obviously a book with a title as poetic as “A Language of Limbs” would be written in the same dreamy prose. I have a real intolerance to sentimentality and wistful metaphorical writing, it tends to leave me at arm’s length and I don’t connect with the characters as much as I like to when it's more about the atmosphere than the interiority. That’s what happened here. Gave it to 50% for it to grip me and it never did. Only ended up finishing it because it was an ARC. Switched to listening on audio and the narrators’ whispery and breathless voices only made the dreamy tone worse lol.

While this was not my usual prose or style, it was an elegantly written book. The perspective tenses were unconventional in the best way and I think many people could appreciate the beauty of it.

I really loved "A Language of Limbs" by Dylin Hardcastle. Tender and poignant at times. Loved the innovative limb 1 and limb 2 structure. Great character development. Recommended.

It will be many moons before I’m able to articulate my feelings for this love story. From the first page until the last, I was completely immersed in the narrative, lost within the pages, and pondering it at work. I am in utter awe of Dylin Hardcastle‘s prose and vivid storytelling.
I highly recommend A Language of Limbs, it is a visceral and poignant experience that you will feel in your core.
This life-affirming story will be a top read of 2025 for me!

Stunning. I cried my eyes out during the last chapter. I had such a specific interpretation of the concept of the book that the ending worked like a twist and it absolutely floored me. The entire book I was thinking about the choices you make and the roads those choices lead you down and how they change you, but how sometimes you stay the same and wind up in the same place, and you can’t protect yourself from grief or loss or pain, but you’ve also never gone so far you can’t find joy again, and to know all that but then also find out someone else was experiencing that same grief and joy and is almost like your mirror through the years of your life you thought you were alone or didn’t know if you could love again? God. I’m so fucking emotional. I love this book. We’re all going to be okay!

I was hooked from the beginning!
It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

I haven’t read a book this powerfully heartbreaking in a while. It’s a quick story, but it’s written with so much depth and meaning that you feel what the characters are feeling.

This story follows a woman living two parallel lives. In one, she embraces her identity as a lesbian; in the other, she suppresses those feelings and remains in a heterosexual relationship. Her emotional experiences in both lives are explored, with moments where the two realities intersect. The narrative delves into themes surrounding sexuality, identity, and personal struggle, and also touches on sensitive topics that may be triggering for some readers.

*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*
A LANGUAGE OF LIMBS is a lyrical love story to the queer and indigenous peoples of 1970s and 80s Australia. It is weighed down with symbolism and sentimentality, the chapters often more poetry than prose, but within those verses is a story about two queer women trying to find their path.
I, like some others it seems, didn't realize it was two different narrators, the voices are incredibly similar-- but I enjoyed the book as a parallel lives story, and was pleasantly surprised by the ending. I think read either way, this is a powerful story of what-ifs and the teeming possibility of decision; the intersectionality of all our lives and the unknown impact we have on the people within our circle.