Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly audiobook review – smart reflections on love, desire and power

This heartfelt story of attraction and friendship, shortlisted for the Women’s prize for fiction, is sensitively read by Dan Bottomley

The debut novel from Rozie Kelly – shortlisted for this year’s Women’s prize for fiction – charts an unusual relationship between two writers. The story is told through the eyes of an unnamed man who works as a creative writing academic. He becomes infatuated with an Irish woman, whom he calls “the poet”, 17 years older than him and a celebrated author. The pair begin meeting for lunch on a bench by a river where they talk and watch the wildlife (she specialises in stories about birds). He observes how this woman “smells like jasmine. No, not exactly. She smelled like the earth beneath a jasmine pot on a hot day.”

Our protagonist pursues her – his early thoughts about her are wilfully crude – despite being in a long-term relationship with Michael, a gym owner with whom he has little in common. He longs to achieve the success that the poet has attained, observing: “She was in high demand. I was a beggar. I knew she had a purse full of gold, if only I could get close enough to cut the strings.”

Their relationship moves into more complex territory when she becomes ill with breast cancer, and he takes on caring duties. His willingness to look after her takes him by surprise, and contrasts with his dealings with his ailing mother, Hetty, who has long taken a dim view of her son’s homosexuality.

Dan Bottomley is the narrator who deftly guides us through Kelly’s smart reflections on love, desire and power. Kingfisher not only offers a new perspective on age-gap relationships, it shows the long-term damage that can be inflicted by a parent on their child.

Available via WF Howes, 6hr 1min

Further listening

Boleyn Traitor
Philippa Gregory, HarperCollins, 19hr 29min
Gemma Whelan narrates Gregory’s gripping story of Anne Boleyn’s sister-in-law Jane, an aristocrat who, against all odds, managed remained in the Tudor court and served five queens, leading to multiple accusations of traitorous behaviour.

We Did OK, Kid
Anthony Hopkins, Simon & Schuster, 9hr 5min
Kenneth Branagh reads the Welsh actor’s unvarnished memoir, in which he recalls his storied career and reflects on his struggles with anxiety and alcoholism, his estrangement from his daughter and his acute discomfort with fame.