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Metal Fish, Falling Snow

Metal Fish, Falling Snow

Cath Moore

  • awardWinner, Young Adult, Prime Minister's Literary Awards, 2021
  • awardWinner, Writing for Young Adults, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, 2021
  • awardWinner, Griffith University Young Adult Book Award, Queensland Literary Awards, 2021
  • awardCommended, Book of the Year for Older Readers, Children's Book Council of Australia, 2021
  • awardShortlisted, Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult’s Literature, NSW Premier's Literary Awards, 2021
  • awardShortlisted, Multicultural NSW Award, NSW Premier's Literary Awards, 2021
  • awardShortlisted, Young Adult Fiction, Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, 2022
  • awardShortlisted, Small Publishers' Children's Book of the Year, Australian Book Industry Awards, 2021
  • awardShortlisted, Readings Young Adult Book Prize, 2021
  • awardLonglisted, Stella Prize, 2021
  • awardLonglisted, ALS Gold Medal, 2021
  • 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.

    INTERVIEWS and REVIEWS

    2021 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards    
    ABC Radio Melbourne: Nightlife   
    ABC Radio National: The Drawing Room   
    ABC TV: Just Between Us (0:36:00)     
    Booklist (starred review)   
    Booktopia blog   
    CBCA Reading Time   
    Happy Mag  
    Kill Your Darlings  
    Love Oz YA   
    Melbourne Writers Festival blog    
    Readings  
    Readings   
    ReadPlus   
    SBS: Life: Finding my voice: I no longer ‘other’ myself in my writing  
    Stella Prize Judges’ Report   

    Cath Moore
    About the Author

    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...

    Read Moreright
    Extent:
    272pp
    Format:
    Paperback
    Text publication date:
    2 July 2020
    ISBN:
    9781922330079
    AU Price:
    $19.99
    NZ Price:
    $24.00
    Reading age:
    14+
    Australian
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    Praise for Cath Moore
    andMetal Fish, Falling Snow

    ‘A richly metaphoric tale of a character’s dualised search: how to come to terms with the loss of her beloved mother and her own role in that loss; and how to interpret and align her mixed heritage identity. The strengths of the novel lie in the protagonist Dylan’s fierce and uncompromised voice, and in the originality of the aesthetic. Moore writes with the technical skill and linguistic panache of an author who is in complete control of her material. Her take on the ‘road trip’ novel is replete with irony, compassion, humour and near-tragedy, and is further distinguished by Dylan’s ability to move between the known and unknown worlds, a device that allows Moore to explore the entanglements of other lives more fully. Metal Fish, Falling Snow is concrete and lace, a multi-layered, poetic work which delves hard and often surgically into the hearts of its characters and allows readers significant insight into the interplay of despair and hope that characterises being human.’

    ‘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.’

    ‘Astonishingly original, heartfelt and funny.’

    ‘This wonderful Australian debut paints a whirling, raging, intense portrait of a teen who experiences the world in ways that she struggles to communicate to others. The reader is taken deep into Dylan’s mind and heart and senses, in ways that are sometimes deeply humorous, and at other times deeply painful. Layers of ideas about race, identity, grief and family run through this book, but the focus never wavers from Dylan’s funny and profound voice. This is a really moving, original and thought-provoking novel.’

    ‘This wonderful Australian debut paints a whirling, raging, intense portrait of a teen who experiences the world in ways that she struggles to communicate to others. The reader is taken deep into Dylan’s mind and heart and senses, in ways that are sometimes deeply humorous, and at other times deeply painful. Layers of ideas about race, identity, grief and family run through this book, but the focus never wavers from Dylan’s funny and profound voice. This is a really moving, original and thought-provoking novel.’

    ‘[Cath Moore] brings a wealth of deep thinking on race to this beautiful and tender novel, exploring themes of familial legacies, finding a place to belong, grief, and what it means to be an Australian of mixed heritage.’

    ‘My favourite Australian book so far this year. It’s one of those books that’s beautifully multilayered and can be read by teens (I would recommend it for ages 14 and up), but adults will also love it. Dylan’s Mum has passed away, in an accident she thinks was her fault, and now her Mum’s rough gambler boyfriend Pat is driving her across rural Australia to deliver her to the Guyanese blood family she has never known, and a Blackness that terrifies her. And everywhere she goes, water is calling her. This is a debut, but it reads like a third or fourth novel: the writing is beautifully lyrical, and every character is like an absolute Masterclass in characterisation.’

    ‘Refreshingly original’

    ‘A brilliant debut…the novel stares back at the White gaze and demands that it set aside its entitlement and its self-imposed authority…Metal Fish, Falling Snow carries the pain of loss, the nuances of race and the longing for family, and interprets the world anew with immense literary skill and just a little bit of magic.’

    ‘A remarkable creation…Metal Fish, Falling Snow is a young adult novel…but given the timeliness of its themes and the beauty of its prose, it would be a shame for adult readers to miss out.’

    ’This is a beautiful and touching story about grief and identity for a girl who has a unique–and magical–view of the world.’

    ‘A sometimes funny, often profound story that will reward the effort of reading Dylan’s own voice narrative.’

    ‘Guyanese-Australian writer Cath Moore’s debut novel, Metal Fish, Falling Snow (Text), is a lyrical and moving road trip across regional Australia with a fascinating young protagonist.’

    ‘Full of spark and humour, and each page is imbued with striking and unforgettable imagery…This is a novel for both young and old; a brilliant and heartfelt work of Australian fiction.’

    ‘Emotional and raw… debut author Moore uses spare, pointed and poetic language to evoke Dylan’s search for magic in everything, including herself.’

    ‘This beautifully written novel is a confident and creative YA debut that explores the themes of grief, family and identity with wonderful imagery and genuine humour. The language used is awe-inspiring and unique.’

    ’Dylan is lost. In her own words, she ‘could be anywhere’. The child of an Afro Caribbean father and a French mother—the girl who was predicted to be a boy—this fourteen-year-old whirlwind rages against a world which always seems set to move against her with cold, dispassionate certainty. As Dylan battles to understand and negotiate this world, her rage is fuelled by a single question: how can she possibly survive without knowing where and how she belongs?

    Metal Fish, Falling Snow is a richly metaphoric tale of a character’s dualised search: how to come to terms with the loss of her beloved mother and her own role in that loss; and how to interpret and align her mixed heritage identity. The strengths of the novel lie in the protagonist Dylan’s fierce and uncompromised voice, and in the originality of the aesthetic. Moore writes with the technical skill and linguistic panache of an author who is in complete control of her material. Her take on the ‘road trip’ novel is replete with irony, compassion, humour and near-tragedy, and is further distinguished by Dylan’s ability to move between the known and unknown worlds, a device that allows Moore to explore the entanglements of other lives more fully.

    Metal Fish, Falling Snow is concrete and lace, a multi-layered, poetic work which delves hard and often surgically into the hearts of its characters and allows readers significant insight into the interplay of despair and hope that characterises being human.’

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