Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for The Morningside, the third novel by bestselling, award-winning writer Téa Obreht, which will be published by Random House in March. Here’s a little bit more about the book from the publisher:
After being expelled from their ancestral home in a not-so-distant-future, Silvia and her mother finally settle at The Morningside, a crumbling luxury tower in a place called Island City where Silvia’s aunt Ena serves as the superintendent. Silvia feels unmoored in her new life because her mother has been so diligently secretive about their family’s past, and because the once-vibrant city she lives in is now half-underwater. Silvia knows almost nothing about the place where she was born and spent her early years, nor does she fully understand why she and her mother had to leave. But in Ena there is an opening: a person willing to give the young girl glimpses into the folktales of her demolished homeland, a place of natural beauty and communal spirit that is lacking in Silvia’s lonely and impoverished reality.
Enchanted by Ena’s stories, Silvia begins seeing the world with magical possibilities and becomes obsessed with the mysterious older woman who lives in the penthouse of the Morningside. Bezi Duras is an enigma to everyone in the building: She has her own elevator entrance and leaves only to go out at night and walk her three massive hounds, often not returning until the early morning. Silvia’s mission to unravel the truth about this woman’s life, and her own haunted past, may end up costing her everything.
Startling, inventive, and profoundly moving, The Morningside is a novel about the stories we tell—and the stories we refuse to tell—to make sense of where we came from and who we hope we might become.
And here’s the cover, with art by Nana An:
“I wanted to depict the city in a way that felt mythical and to emphasize nature taking over in bright, surreal colors that contrast to the foggy skyline,” An told Lit Hub. “It was a fun concept to work with and I hope I captured some of the story’s mystery.”
“It’s such a thrill to see the Island City that’s evolved in my imagination—hazy, sun-drenched, half-submerged, not-wholly-knowable—brought to life in such striking and vivid detail,” Obreht added.
The Morningside will be published by Random House on March 19, 2024. You can preorder it here.
