It’s a sunny morning in south London when Cyril Pennington, a Jamaican-born, London-based bus driver, decides to take his children to get ice-cream at the park. This isn’t exactly straightforward, as Cyril has five children with four mothers who, until now, have never met, on account of “Cyril [seeing] himself as more of a people person than a father. Sadly, for his children, this sociability didn’t extend to the five of them in a way that was mutually beneficial.”
Nonetheless, by the end of their day out, Cyril has accomplished his aim: for the siblings, who are aged between nine and 19, to know one another in order that they don’t “fall in love or have sex or any of dem tings”. Before saying goodbye, the eldest, Nikisha, tells the younger ones: “If anything happens, you call me, OK?”
Fast-forward to the present day and Dimple, now aged 30 and an aspiring influencer with self-esteem issues, calls Nikisha in distress over what appears to be a dead body in her kitchen. And so Nikisha and the other half-siblings, Danny, Lizzie and Prynce, come together to help Dimple in her hour of need.
The Queenie author Candice Carty-Williams’s wise and funny examination of sibling bonds and the impact of absent fathers is narrated sparkily by Danielle Vitalis, who taps into the novel’s humour and switches between the multiple voices with ease (her rendering of the shifty, caddish Cyril is especially good). In dealing with racism, toxic relationships and generational trauma, these siblings find they have considerably more in common than just a ne’er-do-well dad.
• People Person is available from Trapeze, 10hr 4min
Further listening
How to Kill Your Family
Bella Mackie, Borough, 10hr 49min
Charly Clive and Paul Panting narrate this murderous tale by the Jog On author in which a twentysomething Londoner, Grace, visits bloody revenge on her estranged relatives.
It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism
Bernie Sanders, Penguin Audio, 10hr 59min
The US politician and self-confessed democratic socialist rails against the capitalist status quo, taking in everything from the American crisis in healthcare and the declining union movement to the environmental crisis.
