YRSA is a young black graduate supervisor studying for a Sociology PhD at Cambridge. She is tired of the disappointing men around her: those she works with, those she sleeps with and those who abuse her and her friends’ trust. She is fond of the students attending her lectures and “the mixture of boredom, skepticism, arrogance that stares at her. The flowing blonde hair, the sticker-covered Mac, the non-judgmental texters (when) she is explaining – as not all the lecturers here will explain – she is heartbroken about how the world works.”
Near the beginning of Honey, we find Yrsa counseling a devastated co-worker, Nina, who is sleeping with her married professor, Richardson. Not only has he reneged on his vow to leave his wife, but he is using Nina’s research and passing it off as his own.
Later, when Yrsa visits Richardson and sees a bee crawling on the side of his lemonade can, she quietly throws it into the drink. The resulting sting causes a fatal allergic reaction. As he lay dying on the ground, Yrsa refused to help and instead tasted deadly vengeance.
With shades of Promising Young Woman and My Sister, the Serial Killer, Imani Thompson’s debut film is a highly entertaining campus thriller cleverly threaded with feminist and race theory. Narrated with wit and enthusiasm by Chloe Sommer, Honey boldly examines what happens when a woman on the edge loses her moral conscience and takes drastic action. “Kill and run away,” Yrsa reflects. “There’s something wonderful about it.”
Available through Borough Press, 10 hours 55 minutes
listen further
looking at women, looking at war
Victoria Amelina, William Collins, 9 hours 52 minutes
This incomplete account of the conflict in Ukraine was published after its author was killed by a Russian missile. As well as documenting the outrages against her country, Amelina reports on the actions taken by Ukrainian women to survive and achieve justice. Jesse Wilinski explains.
a different kind of power
Jacinda Ardern, Macmillan, 12 hours 5 minutes
A candid memoir in which the former New Zealand prime minister reflects on her challenging premiership, during which she dealt with the mosque attacks in Christchurch and led the country through the pandemic. Read by author.
