The Honeyeater is Jessie Tu’s second novel, following A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing (2020). It moves between Paris, Sydney and Taipei, unravelling a story of deceit and confusion, as its protagonist, Miss Fay C, struggles to establish her identity among a cast of narcissists. Its transnational scope and powerful intimacy justify the accolades Tu has received and her growing success on the literary scene.
Review: The Honeyeater – Jessie Tu (Allen & Unwin) Fay works as a translator and an academic at a well-regarded university in Sydney. Her life appears to be largely limited to her work, which makes her feel stifled and exhausted, and her similarly suffocating home life with her mother. She has recently had an affair with a man who remains unidentified until some way into the novel.
But this relationship has also left her feeling unheard and unappreciated. These themes of restriction, subservience and self-effacement take a range of forms in the novel, as Fay struggles to assert herself and move out of these various imposing shadows. This is evident in the ironic title of the novel.
“My honeyeater” is the affectionate nickname Fay’s married lover bestows on her. The name implies Fay possesses Dionysian qualities, but this is not the impression given at any other point in the book. Fay only gratefully sips at the honey offered to her by others, never seeking her own pleasure.
That her lover settles on “honeyeater” after Fay protests at being termed “blackbi.