Kingfisher – Rozie Kelly

READ FOR WOMEN’S PRIZE

An unnamed creative writing academic becomes increasingly drawn to an older colleague, a poet he calls his kingfisher. Their attraction develops and disrupts his established life with his partner Michael. As he moves between these two worlds, illness affecting those close to him changes the course of his relationships and the life he had imagined for himself.

My role in our relationship is to remain reliably broken. She fixes me and I ensure I remain a mess for her to fix. It’s the most functional relationship I’ve ever had

RACHEL
● Kingfisher is about grief and desire, and the agency we have in how we handle those emotions. The unnamed narrator is not an outwardly emotional person, and I liked this perspective on grief. “I don’t get angry, I feel empty,” he says, and that’s a good summation of the book. There is a sense of subdued passion and empty grief throughout.

The narrator is also battling identity. As a gay man in a relationship, he suddenly finds himself desiring a woman, the poet, and this becomes a turning point in the way he examines both his life and work. His relationships with the other key characters, his boyfriend, his mother, his friend Jess and the poet, are all uniquely portrayed. They never felt clichéd or borrowed, but genuine and realistically complex.

It’s not exactly a cheery read, so may not be for everyone, but for those who appreciate careful construction, strong character development and a slow-burn plot, this is one to pick up.

Published 2025
Saraband / Contraband
212 pages