Like fashion trends, fads in book covers come and go. One year, the backs of women’s heads might be all the rage; the next, soft focus photography. And who can forget the exploding flower craze? Or the proliferation of flames on jackets, from thrillers to science fiction to self-help?
But the look that’s commanding today’s runways — a.k.a. bookshelves — is not so incendiary. It tends to lay blaringly bright type in a sans-serif font atop a painting, usually a few centuries old but not always. Facial expressions are baleful or dyspeptic; an aggressive burst of spray paint can change the tone entirely.
These covers are the new signifiers of stylish literary fiction, telegraphing gravitas, wit and cool. They make a bid for a certain kind of reader — more city than suburb, more pét-nat than chardonnay. They wouldn’t be caught dead alongside a volume decked out in pop art or, god forbid, metallic lettering.
Thomas Haggerty, a senior account manager at Bridgeman Images, which licenses paintings for commercial projects, credits the trend to “the power of juxtaposition.” Gregg Kulick, executive art director at Hachette Book Group, agrees: “Poppy type” reads as fun, he says, while the paintings “hint at the academic.”
So how did this ripped-from-the galleries craze get off the ground? After all, paintings have graced the covers of novels since “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” but it appears that “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” (2019) might be the trailblazer for this century’s spate.
Here’s the story behind that one, plus eight descendants out — or soon to be — this year.
MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION
By Ottessa Moshfegh (Penguin Press)
The story An unhappy woman in her 20s resolves to escape the world by sleeping for a year. Hibernation proves more complicated and less peaceful than expected.
The image “Portrait of a Young Woman in White,” by an anonymous artist (oil on canvas, 1798).
The styling The painting and font both came from Moshfegh, according to Darren Haggar, the art director at Penguin Press. “We had to remove the nipples,” he said; otherwise, the jacket came together without incident, later sparking a TikTok trend celebrating the “coquette aesthetic.” One can’t help wondering what’s running through the cover figure’s head, and the novel is the obvious place to turn for clues.
THE CAPITAL OF DREAMS
By Heather O’Neill (Harper Perennial, Jan. 7)
The story In this dystopian fairy tale set in a war torn country, a 14-year-old girl is pulled between safety and loyalty, between kindness and her own survival.
The image “Mother and Son in the Garden,” by Hugo Burkner (chromolithograph, 1878).
The styling “We were looking for something fairy-tale-like with a hint of menace,” said Robin Bilardello, the senior art director who found Burkner’s painting. To signal that, she erased the boy in the foreground with black spray paint and added hot pink splotches at the top (their drips somewhat echoing the 2024 best seller “The God of the Woods,” which also sports an arty cover). Crisp type shows the reader they’re about to enter a world that is, for better and for worse, yoked to modern times.
DREAM STATE
By Eric Puchner (Doubleday, Feb. 18)
The story A bright-eyed bride-to-be arrives in Montana to finalize the details of her wedding with her husband-to-be’s best friend. Their unexpected rapport has seismic consequences.
The image “The Teton Range,” by Thomas Moran (oil on canvas, 1897).
The styling Oprah’s 111th book club pick features type in a shade of yellow that you’ll also see on the cover of the forthcoming “Happiness & Love,” among others. (A similar chartreuse is popular, too. Designers say this is because neon colors are visible at thumbnail size. See: Amazon.)
Oliver Munday, executive director of art/design at Doubleday, dreamed up the look of “Dream State” in consultation with its editor, Thomas Gebremedhin. “We wanted something that felt big and sweeping,” Munday said, “and that referenced environmental implications and the family saga at the heart of the book.” Moran’s painting — and a bit of photoshopping to extend the sky to the top of the cover — offered the grandeur they were looking for.
HUNGERSTONE
By Kat Dunn (Zando, Feb. 18)
The story In this retelling of the book that inspired Dracula, a married woman in Victorian London falls for a vampire named Carmilla.
The image “The Nightmare,” by Henry Fuseli (oil on canvas, 1781).
The styling Here we see the dramatic swoon — as if the woman pictured had no bones — popularized on several book covers this season. The nightmarish sensuality of Fuseli’s painting spoke to Alicia Tatone, who designed it. But “blood on the cover of a vampire book felt a smidge too on-the-nose,” she wrote in an email, “so we switched it out for neon green and a single, menacing drip that ends in a spike right near the neck of the sleeping woman.”
THESE DAYS
By Lucy Caldwell (Zando, April 8)
The story In Belfast in 1941, two sisters grapple with love and cultural expectations while trying to stay true to themselves.
The image “Woman in the Window,” by Alberto Morrocco (oil on canvas, 1953).
The styling Ploy Siripant, a senior art director at William Morrow/HarperCollins, started to envision “These Days” with “Trespasses,” another Irish novel, in mind. Caldwell had explained how, during World War II, Belfast residents watched the sky, knowing moonlight could determine whether or not bombs fell. The image of the woman sitting by the window captures that expectant spirit. “I intentionally avoided showing the full crop to keep a sense of mystery,” Siripant wrote in an email. “Publishers often favor this approach so readers can envision the character in their own way.”
DISAPPOINT ME
By Nicola Dinan (Dial, May 27)
The story A 30-year-old trans woman becomes entangled with a Chinese man whose friends and family are way more traditional than her own. History interferes, forcing a reckoning on forgiveness.
The image “After the Ball,” by Ramon Casas i Carbo (oil on canvas, 1899).
The styling Behold another boneless flop! “I got to dive into art history and find as many disappointed looking women as I could,” said Rachel Ake, who created this cover, adding the hot pink type so it “pops off the page.” The covers of “Becoming Duchess Goldblatt” and “All Fours” were inspirations for this and for her work on “Stag Dance,” another recent entrant in this category.
THE LONGEST WAY TO EAT A MELON
By Jacquelyn Zong-Li Ross (Sarabande, June 10)
The story A collection of works each more satirical and surreal than the last.
The image “Kittens and Snail,” by Alfred Arthur Brunel de Neuville (oil on canvas, undated).
The styling Emily Mahon knew one thing when she embarked on her cover design: It would not feature a melon (too obvious). She went with a snail and a kitten (excising the black-and-white feline in the original painting) because she felt they represented the “humorous and quirky” aspects of Ross’s fiction. Mahon played with the spacing of the text to break up the length of the title and tee up the nonlinear nature of the stories that follow.
AMONG FRIENDS
By Hal Ebbott (Riverhead, June 24)
The story Two families escape to upstate New York to celebrate a 52nd birthday. The festivities take a grim turn when envy and resentment (and worse) join the fun.
The image “Life During Wartime,” by Bo Bartlett (oil on linen, 2018).
The styling Bartlett’s painting puts a modern twist on canvas-inspired covers. Lauren Peters-Collaer, the designer of “Among Friends,” appreciated the way “Life During Wartime” made a viewer want to figure out what’s going on between “complicated, flawed but dynamic characters.” She wrote in an email: “I love how it sets the viewer down at the edge of this group and provides a subtle sense of tension.” The font, Recoleta, has a slight nostalgic feel that’s nicely balanced by (hello again) bright yellow.
SEDUCTION THEORY
By Emily Adrian (Little, Brown, Aug. 12)
The story As a pair of married professors flirt with infidelity, a graduate student fictionalizes their situation in her thesis. But her version only scratches at the surface of the truth.
The image “The Swing,” by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (oil on canvas, 1767).
Cover styling What might appear to be an underwater scene is actually a slice of lush pastoral bliss, among the most famous paintings produced by the 18th-century French artist. The designer, Juliana Lee, worked hard to get the exact right crop, according to Hachette’s Kulick. By focusing so tightly — the swing itself is never seen — the cover has a floating vibe, as a woman’s foot swims ever closer to a bewigged man’s outstretched arm. The 3-D font offers “a little bit of levity,” Kulick said. “It’s not overly serious. There’s a playfulness there.”
Elisabeth Egan is a writer and editor at the Times Book Review. She has worked in the world of publishing for 30 years.
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