Finding the Right Sky
A true story of war, exile and belonging, across three continents
Order a copy$40 a copy. Collect in Paekākāriki, or we post it: $9 a copy in New Zealand, $25 a parcel to Australia, $45 a parcel elsewhere overseas.
The book
West Java, 1936. Eleven-year-old Cato asks her mother why she has left the sky unpainted.
"It is not right. I will paint the sky when I find it."
Within a decade, Cato's world of frangipani, tea rows and Dutch colonial comfort is gone, replaced by a bamboo gedek fence, by hunger, and by the daily calculation of what she will risk to keep her family alive.
From a Javanese plantation to a Swiss mountain school, through the Japanese internment camps of the Dutch East Indies, to a strange green country at the far end of the world, carrying one brown suitcase.
A story of colonisation, of cruelty and unexpected compassion, and of a young woman whose courage outlasted an empire.
About the author
Jude Castle lives on the Kāpiti Coast. Finding the Right Sky is her first book. It is her mother's story, written across ten years and finished in declining health.
Her son Vincent is seeing it into print.
About the cover
The painting is by Johanna Pantekoek, the author's grandmother, and shows a bay in West Java. This is a scan of the original painting.
The edition
Paperback, A5, about 320 pages, printed in Porirua by Rainbow Creative. First published in New Zealand in 2026. ISBN 9781067311605.
Order a copy
The first print run has gone to friends and family. We are taking orders for the next one.
The book is $40 a copy. Fill in the form below and you can pay by card or bank transfer on the next screen.
Postage, collection and refunds
Everything you might want to know before you order.
- Price
- $40 a copy, in New Zealand dollars. Frangipani Press is not registered for GST, so no GST is charged.
- Postage
- $9 a copy anywhere in New Zealand. $25 a parcel to Australia, and $45 a parcel to anywhere else overseas, sent tracked with NZ Post. We can’t post to the USA at the moment. If you are there and would like a copy, email us and we will work something out. Collection from Meg Driver in Paekākāriki is free, and we will text you the address.
- When you will get it
- These are orders for the next print run, so payment is taken before the book is printed. Your copy will be posted, or ready to collect, within six weeks of your order. We will text you when it is on its way.
- Refunds
- You can cancel and get a full refund at any time before your copy is posted or collected. Just email us. Refunds go back to the card or account you paid from, usually within five working days.
- Damaged copies
- If your book arrives damaged, email us within fourteen days and we will replace it at no cost. You do not need to send the damaged copy back.
- Paying
- By card through Stripe, or by bank transfer. Both options appear after you submit the form. Card payments show on your statement as FRANGIPANI PRESS.
Thank you for ordering a copy. Mum has been writing this book for ten years and what matters to her now is that it gets read.
Our family is grateful to everyone who has asked for one.
Vincent
Contact
Email hello@frangipanipress.com and we will get back to you within two working days.
Frangipani Press
Vincent Trading Limited
Nelson, New Zealand