Damselfish

Britta Santowski is a freelance writer in Victoria.

The narrator of Susan Ouriou’s exceptional debut novel is Hope, a
Montreal native who arrives in Mexico City with an artist’s grant.
While she occasionally visits the studio, Hope is driven by a need to
understand and possibly find her Mexican father, Pedro, who mysteriously
abandoned the family years ago.

When Hope’s sister Faith shows up unannounced, some of the past that
Hope has suppressed comes rushing back. A side obsession to kill giant
cockroaches leads Hope behind some cracked tiles in the bathroom. There
she locates her sister’s journal, which she reads and revisits
regularly, thereby exposing herself to new perspectives and some very
personal secrets.

Damselfish is a novel about the power of words: Hope finds comfort in
confession and telling her story; Faith maintains order in a chaotic
world through her journal; and their mother, Ramona, dives into a sorrow
so deep that she looses her speech. In this passionate and emotionally
raw novel, these three women safeguard secrets, seek meaning, and
uncover the unexpected.