'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.' (Publication summary)
'How does one interpret the world after their mother has died? Through this question, Cath Moore makes a brilliant debut with her magical-realist novel, Metal Fish, Falling Snow. On a cross-country drive to the coast, mixed-race protagonist Dylan witnesses signs that tell her to take her mother’s spirit back to Paris by boat. For Dylan’s caretaker, Pat, each kilometre only deepens his guilt. He knows there is no boat waiting at the ocean for Dylan, only her paternal Guyanese–Australian family – their connection having been severed by her estranged father almost a decade before.' (Introduction)
'How does one interpret the world after their mother has died? Through this question, Cath Moore makes a brilliant debut with her magical-realist novel, Metal Fish, Falling Snow. On a cross-country drive to the coast, mixed-race protagonist Dylan witnesses signs that tell her to take her mother’s spirit back to Paris by boat. For Dylan’s caretaker, Pat, each kilometre only deepens his guilt. He knows there is no boat waiting at the ocean for Dylan, only her paternal Guyanese–Australian family – their connection having been severed by her estranged father almost a decade before.' (Introduction)