Disappoint Me
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Summary
The brand-new novel from the critically acclaimed author of Bellies, a funny and poignant exploration of millennial angst, race, trans panic, and the allure of bougie domesticity.
Chosen as a ‘Best Book of 2025’ by Cosmopolitan, Stylist, Elle, Dazed, Vogue, AnOther, and GQ
'One of the UK’s most perceptive young novelists with her finger firmly on the pulse of contemporary behaviour' Guardian
'Riveting, funny and devastating' Shon Faye, bestselling author of The Transgender Issue
Max is thirty, a published poet and grossly overpaid legal counsel for a tech company. She’s living her best life! Or is she?
The debris of years of dysphoria and failed relationships rattle around in her head. When she tumbles down the stairs at a New Year’s Eve party and wakes up in hospital alone, she decides to make some changes.
First things first: a stab at good old-fashioned heteronormativity.
Enter Vincent, corporate lawyer and hobby baker. His trad friendship group may as well speak a different language to Max, and his Chinese parents never pictured their son dating a trans woman. It’s uncertain terrain, but Vincent cares for Max in a way she’d long given up on as a foolish fantasy.
Yet Vincent is carrying his own baggage. On his gap year in Thailand a decade prior, he vies for the attention of a gorgeous traveller, Alex, with secrets of her own. Is Vincent really the new face of the Enlightened Man, or will the ghosts of his past sabotage his and Max’s happiness?
Funny, moving, and poignant, Disappoint Me reckons with the pressures of living the 'right' kind of life and making peace with the past.
Praise for Disappoint Me:
‘An absolute gift…I loved it’ Oisín McKenna, author of Evenings and Weekends
‘Nicola Dinan writes like some kind of demigod’ Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby
‘A riveting, hilarious and totally devastating love story… will have you gripped and sets Dinan as a literary voice to watch’ Elle, ‘Best Books of 2025’
‘Pacy, perfectly pitched and emotionally honest: I loved every page’ Stylist, ‘Best Books of 2025’
‘Sharply insightful, warm and heartbreaking’ Cosmopolitan, ‘Best Books of 2025’
‘Nicola Dinan will be studied in years to come as one of the modern greats. . . The kind of writing you’ll be talking about for weeks after you’ve finished reading.’ nb Magazine
Chosen as a ‘Best Book of 2025’ by Cosmopolitan, Stylist, Elle, Dazed, Vogue, AnOther, and GQ
'One of the UK’s most perceptive young novelists with her finger firmly on the pulse of contemporary behaviour' Guardian
'Riveting, funny and devastating' Shon Faye, bestselling author of The Transgender Issue
Max is thirty, a published poet and grossly overpaid legal counsel for a tech company. She’s living her best life! Or is she?
The debris of years of dysphoria and failed relationships rattle around in her head. When she tumbles down the stairs at a New Year’s Eve party and wakes up in hospital alone, she decides to make some changes.
First things first: a stab at good old-fashioned heteronormativity.
Enter Vincent, corporate lawyer and hobby baker. His trad friendship group may as well speak a different language to Max, and his Chinese parents never pictured their son dating a trans woman. It’s uncertain terrain, but Vincent cares for Max in a way she’d long given up on as a foolish fantasy.
Yet Vincent is carrying his own baggage. On his gap year in Thailand a decade prior, he vies for the attention of a gorgeous traveller, Alex, with secrets of her own. Is Vincent really the new face of the Enlightened Man, or will the ghosts of his past sabotage his and Max’s happiness?
Funny, moving, and poignant, Disappoint Me reckons with the pressures of living the 'right' kind of life and making peace with the past.
Praise for Disappoint Me:
‘An absolute gift…I loved it’ Oisín McKenna, author of Evenings and Weekends
‘Nicola Dinan writes like some kind of demigod’ Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby
‘A riveting, hilarious and totally devastating love story… will have you gripped and sets Dinan as a literary voice to watch’ Elle, ‘Best Books of 2025’
‘Pacy, perfectly pitched and emotionally honest: I loved every page’ Stylist, ‘Best Books of 2025’
‘Sharply insightful, warm and heartbreaking’ Cosmopolitan, ‘Best Books of 2025’
‘Nicola Dinan will be studied in years to come as one of the modern greats. . . The kind of writing you’ll be talking about for weeks after you’ve finished reading.’ nb Magazine
Reviews
Disappoint Me is a refreshingly unsentimental and moving exploration of millennial ennui, prickly friendships and toxic masculinity. It eschews essentialism by depicting modern relationships and the flow of power and secrecy with astuteness and compassion, cementing Dinan as one of the UK’s most perceptive young novelists with her finger firmly on the pulse of contemporary behaviour.
Guardian
