Richard Marazano

"Milo leads a lonely childhood marked by the absence of his mother, about whom he knows next to nothing. His father has gone to work in the city, leaving him in the care of his three elderly aunts, who give him his freedom to distract himself by the lake where he lives. In this lake, Milo discovers a fish egg of unusual size, and when it hatches, a magnificent golden fish is born. Milo is only half surprised when strange creatures, including a toad...

"In the grim future of our world, Earth has been ravaged by sentient machines, the human race all but exterminated. Only scattered groups of children have survived by hiding in tunnels to escape the murderous robots that still scour the surface."--www.cinebook.co.uk