A woman named Stars, who lives in a survivalist commune isolated by sea from the seemingly deteriorating outside world, spends her days on the parts of the island the gulls haven’t claimed. She climbs to high hills to collect the wild capers that grow there. Works hard with the others to coax crops out of not much good soil. Scrapes molluscs from the rocks and scales fish caught from the endless blue that surrounds them. If there’s time, she swims with her sister by blood, named Moon.
And then just like that, change blows in with the salted wind.
As newcomers from the mainland, called terra people, start to arrive on the island, the way of life that Stars is so accustomed to is upheaved. Essential resources are depleted. Commune values are threatened. Buried truths are unearthed. With her world churning, Stars is challenged to question everything. This story is a slow opening of the eyes as Stars reevaluates what her gut – her belly heart – is truly telling her amidst the manipulation, fear, and secrets that drench the island.
Bellyheart explores the reliability of intuition and the dystopian elements of our own society. It is a visceral and reflective psychological exploration for adult readers, with echoes of the post-apocalyptic genre.