In Imani Thompson's debut audiobook Honey, narrated by Chloë Sommer, listeners are drawn into a darkly entertaining campus thriller that weaves racial and gender politics into a clever tale of murder and morals at Cambridge. The story follows Yrsa, a young Black undergraduate supervisor studying for a sociology PhD, who is tired of the disappointing men in her life—colleagues, lovers, and those who abuse her trust. She is also sick of her students, described as showing "the mix of boredom, doubt, arrogance that stares back at her. The blond flops of hair, Macs covered in stickers, non-discreet texters [when] she’s explaining – like not all lecturers here will – how the world works."
A Deadly Act of Retribution
Early in the story, Yrsa counsels a devastated colleague, Nina, who has been sleeping with her married professor, Richardson. Not only has he reneged on his pledge to leave his wife, but he has been using Nina's research and passing it off as his own. Later, when Yrsa encounters Richardson and notices a bee crawling on the edge of his lemonade can, she furtively flicks it into the drink. The resulting sting causes a fatal allergic reaction. As he lies dying, Yrsa declines to help and instead develops a taste for deadly retribution.
Feminist and Race Theory Interwoven
With shades of Promising Young Woman and My Sister, the Serial Killer, Thompson's debut boldly examines what happens when a woman on the edge loses her moral compass and takes drastic action. "To kill and get away with it," Yrsa reflects, "There's something spectacular to it." The audiobook, running 10 hours and 55 minutes, is available via The Borough Press and is narrated with wit and verve by Chloë Sommer.
Further Listening Recommendations
For those interested in similar themes, Looking at Women, Looking at War by Victoria Amelina (William Collins, 9 hr 52 min) is an unfinished account of the conflict in Ukraine, published after its author was killed by a Russian missile. It chronicles outrages against her country and the work done by Ukrainian women to survive and obtain justice, narrated by Jesse Vilinsky. Additionally, A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Macmillan, 12 hr 5 min) is a frank memoir in which the former prime minister of New Zealand reflects on her challenging premiership, dealing with the mosque attacks in Christchurch and steering the country during the pandemic, read by the author.
