Suckerfish 🐡

By Ashani Lewis.

Suckerfish by Ashani Lewis is a sharply observed, emotionally intelligent book that digs into the complicated pull between obligation and self preservation, particularly within mother daughter relationships.

Kolia has promised herself this will be the last time she is drawn back into her mother’s orbit. Her mother is charismatic, demanding, brilliant, and utterly chaotic. A world class human rights lawyer and a force of nature, she dominates every space she enters.

Kolia, by contrast, feels stuck and adrift, spending her days tutoring the spoiled children of the ultra wealthy while quietly resenting how little of her own life seems to belong to her.

As Kolia is pulled back towards her mother and a homeland she has only really encountered in adulthood, the book explores the tension between wanting distance and feeling responsibility.

Kolia is desperate to find her own purpose, yet constantly questions whether she is truly escaping her mother’s influence or slowly becoming her. The emotional conflict at the heart of the story feels painfully real, especially the sense of duty that lingers even when love is tangled up with resentment and exhaustion.

The book is highly readable and moves quickly, yet never feels shallow. She develops the central relationship and supporting cast with care, giving enough depth to understand motivations without over explaining or losing focus. The result is a story that feels both intimate and sharply controlled.

What works particularly well is the moral tension Lewis creates for the reader. We are shown the mother’s behaviour largely through Kolia’s eyes, allowing us to recognise how damaging her attention seeking and boundary crossing can be, while still understanding the roots of who she is.

Learning more about her background, upbringing, and the nature of her work complicates any easy judgement, and reinforces how trauma and coping mechanisms can ripple across generations.

Suckerfish is a thoughtful examination of inherited patterns, emotional labour, and the cost of loving someone who takes up too much space. If you are drawn to messy, unresolved mother daughter dynamics and stories that sit comfortably in emotional grey areas, this is a compelling and absorbing read.

Thank you to Marcela at John Murray Press for sending me a copy of the book in time for publication day! The book is out now and available to purchase.

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