Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for my free digital ARC of A Language of Limbs! This book was absolutely stunning, ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped on it. Everyone should read it. It’s urgent and raw, written so poetically that it took my breath away on occasion. It’s set in Australia in the 70s, and I’ve never read about the AIDs pandemic set anywhere other than the UK or US. Hardcastle does a brilliant job (in my opinion) of portraying the time period, the intersections of homophobia, classism, racism that affects the queer community. I loved the way it flitted between Limb One and Limb Two’s stories - starting off with two young girls, having queer experiences and their lives then run parallel, it’s one of those books that make you think about the tiniest choices we make and how the rest of our lives then play out. It’s so just beautifully done. Community is at the heart of this novel, the community we build and the family we choose and how it holds us up. This was all geared up to be my favourite book of the year already, but at one point I feel like it tipped too far into melodrama. There was enough emotion and poignancy, it then almost felt too much. But bloody hell, still loved it.