Dylan and her adored French mother dream of one day sailing across the ocean to France. Paris, Dylan imagines, is a place where her black skin won’t make her stand out, a place where she might feel she belongs.

But when she loses her mother in a freak accident, Dylan finds herself on a very different journey: a road trip across outback Australia in the care of her mother’s grieving boyfriend, Pat. As they travel through remote towns further and further from the water that Dylan longs for, she and Pat form an unlikely bond. One that will be broken when he leaves her with the family she has never known.

Metal Fish, Falling Snow is a warm, funny and highly original portrait of a young girl’s search for identity and her struggle to deal with grief. Through families lost and found, this own-voices story celebrates the resilience of the human heart and our need to know who we truly are.

Born in Guyana, Cath Moore is of Irish/Afro-Caribbean heritage. Though raised in Australia she has also lived in Scotland and Belgium. Cath is also an award-winning screenwriter, teacher and filmmaker. She holds an MA in screenwriting and a PhD in Danish screenwriting practices. Metal Fish, Falling Snow is Cath's first novel. She lives in Melbourne.

‘A breathtaking debut with such an assured, original voice—one page and I was all in. I wanted to remember every line but it felt like trying to catch handfuls of stars—in the end every piece fell into place so beautifully and I sat there in gobsmacked silence...you know the feeling that hits after you’ve read an extraordinary book? Metal Fish, Falling Snow is one of the most moving books I’ve read in ages and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.’ Vikki Wakefield