Kingfisher

by Rozie Kelly

She smelled like jasmine. No, not exactly. She smelled like the earth beneath a jasmine plant on a hot day.

Most of us are poets, she said. It’s just a question of how it comes out.

When a creative writing academic becomes infatuated with his colleague – the poet – it is not long before it begins to threaten his relationship with his partner, Michael. Michael is beautiful. Michael is safe. But the poet is everything he isn’t; she has everything he wants.

While he writes about steel and sex, she dreams about the movements of swallows. While he tends to his budding career, she writes from her big, white house in the woods. As he slips between his old life and this new one, his fixation grows into something more powerful. The poet, his Kingfisher, is his sole focus. He is hypnotised.

But when simultaneous illnesses threaten to destroy the precarious reality he clings to, he’s forced to question what he can and cannot take from someone. This is a novel about grief, power and desire – and the tangles in between that make up a life.

Genres: Fiction, Queer

212 pages, Paperback

Published April 3, 2025

Reviews

[Amber Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t think I have the words for how much I love this book yet

[Ayoob · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing in this is beautiful but it reminds me so much of Normal People in the way that I just do not get most of the characters or they feel too nuanced for me.

[Lizzie B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning but devastating debut. I must admit it felt slightly unfinished… though I may just be someone who prefers not to have loose ends when I finish the last page. (Very curious about the overheard phone call and who was on the other line?) I look forward to reading more from this author someday.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 this was so fucking good, like sally rooney but I hated it less?? I wrote a big long review on @thebookmark_mcr but god I love poetic fiction wrap me in your arms

[Loran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the writing in this book. I don’t always understand the characters or their behavior but that’s ok. There was. Lot bout this book I liked.

[Rebecca Dodds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished this book, and it's left me staring out my bedroom window, not wanting lunch.
It's poetry. It's descriptive. It's beautiful. It made me laugh a good few times. The author relates everything to smell which I'm obsessed with, some I don't get , some feel like how did she get that moment related to smell so perfectly.
The start frustrated me not knowing anyone's names but I grew to love it and knew them so well as characters that didn't end up needing to know.
It made me think, love the writing, and wish I could have made the chat she did in Ripon.
Obsessed and feel like I will definitely read it again in life which I don't feel often.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fantastic and really different to what I expected. Tried it out as the author is local to me.
The audiobook is beautifully read. So many interesting, different characters and so real - the details of food you can manage when on chemo or Hettie’s strong tea.
Loved getting into the main character’s head, his relationships with his parents, Michael, The Poet and Jessica - I loved The Poet and Jessica.
(If anyone reading this knows - I really want to know what the penguin classics book with joy on the cover was - maybe it was referenced earlier but with an audiobook it’s hard to find).

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book club read.

I think that of all the 2025 book club reads, this is the best so far. Somewhere in the league of Bunny- but less of the (excuse my French) mindf*ck that I experienced reading that book. We’re seeing the same unreliable / not likeable narrator who doesn’t really take initiative, but in a softer way. This guy is more convincing, but I still don’t get him, exactly.

I quite liked the themes of obsessive love and the way that they manifest in this book. In fact, there’s quite a few expressions of what love could be- some genuine and some less so. And I really enjoyed the dissecting and analysing that in the discussion we had on Thursday.

The true rating I’d give this book is a 3.75 / 3.8.

[Mary Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Kelly writes prose poetically and with sensory details that really bring it to life. She captures the complexities of human relationships in an unusual way, through the medium of characters who aren't always likeable but she still makes you care about them. Well, some of them. There's a pervading sense of melancholy in which people don't always get what they think they want. And humour too. A very perceptive first novel. I can't wait to read what comes next!

[Rick Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I defy you to read the opening line and not to be drawn irresistably into the emotionally complex world that the author has deftly created. The characters are beautifully drawn. You'll love some of them, despise others, but above all you'll believe them (and might feel that some of them remind you of someone...) It's an incredibly touching tale of the challenges of love in all its guises. Highly recommended.

[Stuart Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling, emotional, stylistically unique; it's not your average short novel. Exploring the issues of grief, sexuality, love and service, with several complex and layered characters to dissect, love and loathe. The gravity of the story and how it makes you feel while reading it, really belie it's 200-something page count; I'd really recommend you try to read it all in one go, as that's how rollercoasters are supposed to be experienced.

[Carol King · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a stunning debut novel. I was immersed in it from the start and found myself visualising the characters and scenes as the descriptions were so beautifully written. Interesting perspectives on love, grief, age gap relationships. Very interested to see what this talented young novelist produces next

[Froukje · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the story was okay, interesting, but I loved (!) the way it was written. It felt sort of soothing to read, even though the story itself isn't a soothing story. It did feel a bit unfinished, like someone else also said in the review, but I would still recommend this book anyway. Very well written and a pleasure to read!

[CS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. Heart wrenching. And at times darkly funny. An observation of inter-personal relationships so deeply observed. I cannot recommend this enough.

[Lauren McGivern · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully told emotional rollercoaster of a story, didn't want it to end

[Toby Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly wonderful book, such complex characters and each page is dripping with poetic description. A wonderful and fearless book. I can’t wait to see what Rozie does next!

[Derek Withshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really accomplished and engrossing novel which asks interesting questions about relationships and desire.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

An immaculately crafted novel

[Angelica Star · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

[Elaine Frieman Herbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to attend the book launch with a friend. I took my time reading this book. The prose is like poetry. It's beautifully written, leaving a sense of melancholy.

[October · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put this down. So beautiful and sad, and also so encapsulating of what we as humans are like.

[indiajchambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal

[yenni m · Rating 5 out of 5]

Near perfect really in current time and space. Highlighted quotes used for goodreads bio are my least favourite.

Nice nature and relatable narcissist elements.