The Colour Black

A stirring take on the American road novel, The Colour Black is the story of a talented young artist Silvia Cruz whose quiet but comfortable existence in San Diego drawing abstracts and nudes is turned upside down when she meets Jack. Free-spirited, athletic and a lawyer who loves wild swimming, he is different from her other models, and Silvia soon finds herself drawn to him. One day Silvia begins to open up to Jack about her past life, growing up in Mexico amid drug wars and corruption, until she reveals a secret that drives the two out of town. Together they travel across the breathtaking landscapes of America towards Alaska, searching for truth, freedom and adventure, all the while unraveling the mysteries of life, the universe and their own existence. But will they find the answers they are seeking, and will Silvia ever open her heart to love? The Colour Black is the beautiful, illustrated debut novel from a unique new voice in commercial fiction.

Born in London to Polish parents, Maia has lived in the UK, Chile and Australia, and spent her childhood summers in the forests of Poland. She is a self-taught artist, and author-illustrator of children's picture books as well as a novelist. Her work is an exploration of reality and how the human mind perceives it, inspired by nature and this mysterious thing called life, it is a reflection on the simple but extraordinary and mysterious fact of existence.