The Shrinking by Nicola Rayner

A new short story for Radio 4, inspired by the news that some GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are soon to be available in pill form. The Shrinking imagines a parallel world where women can shrink to their “perfect height” with the help of a seemingly miraculous new medication. But the treatment has some unexpected side-effects.

Born in South Wales, Nicola Rayner is a novelist and journalist. She is the author of The Girl Before You, which was described as "the new Girl on the Train” by the Observer and translated into multiple languages. Her second novel, You and Me, another psychological thriller, was published in October 2020. A work of historical fiction, The Paris Dancer, was published in 2025. In her day job as a journalist, Nicola writes about dance and travel and her articles have appeared in a number of publications including the Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, The Stage and Dancing Times.

Read by Clare Corbett
Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio