Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly audiobook review – wise thoughts on love, desire and power | Books

TShe wrote the first book from Rozie Kelly – who was nominated for this year’s Women’s Prize – showing a strange relationship between two writers. The story is told through the eyes of an unnamed person who works as a literary expert. He is attracted to an Irish woman, whom he calls a “poet”, 17 years older than him and a famous writer. The two first meet for lunch on a bench by the river where they chat and watch wildlife (he is a birder). He sees how this woman “smells like jasmine. Of course not.

Our protagonist follows her – her old opinions about him are deliberately rude – despite her long-term relationship with Michael, a gym owner who bears little resemblance to her. He longs to achieve the success that the poet found, saying: “He was in great demand, I was a beggar, I knew he had a bag full of gold, I would have come close to cut the strings.”

Their relationship reaches a critical stage when she is diagnosed with breast cancer, and begins a career as a caregiver. His willingness to take care of him surprises him, and it contrasts with the way he treats his sick mother, Hetty, who for a long time does not see her son’s crime.

Dan Bottomley is a storyteller who intelligently guides us through Kelly’s wise thoughts on love, desire and power. Kingfisher not only offers a new perspective on middle-aged relationships, it shows the long-term damage a parent can inflict on their child.

Available via WF Howes, 6hr 1min

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