See the Cover for The Sleeping Land by Ella Alexander

Ella Alexander’s debut novel The Sleeping Land takes place in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union where a group of archeology students and their enigmatic professor are set to dig in a remote Siberian cave. Using a thrilling mystery as its backdrop, The Sleeping Land explores how the past still haunts us and can shape our future when we least expect it.

Alexander, who has had her work featured in LongReads and HuffPost, lives in Berlin and is originally from Los Angeles.  Her debut novel is available for pre-order and will be published on February 4, 2025, from Unnamed Press.

Debutiful is proud to give readers a first look at the haunting cover for The Sleeping Land, designed by Jaya Nicely. See the cover below and get a behind-the-scenes look at how it was made from the author herself.

While writing the book, did you have any ideas for what you wanted the cover to look like?

My original idea was to incorporate real examples of cave art, specifically the lion panel in Chauvet cave. Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams, which centers around Chauvet Cave, was an early influence for the book, and I consider Chauvet’s art to be some of the most beautiful ever produced by humans. It also falls under public domain internationally, as the artists definitely died more than 70 years ago.

Can you explain what the design process was like once you started working with your publishing team?

The Unnamed team and I went through a few rounds of back and forth initially, trying to come to a consensus on the concept and color palette. One thing Jaya did from the start was incorporate the lion panel’s layering into her designs, weaving images through the text. We all agreed it was a really beautiful touch, and even as we departed from the original idea, this became a through line. In the cave art, the figures overlap to denote movement, but by the time Jaya presented the final version of the cover, this sense of movement had been replaced by an eerie stillness. The layering in the cover instead serves to draw the design elements together, and to hint at a slightly perverse playfulness in the novel.

What was it like seeing your finalized cover for the first time?

I was thrilled! It communicates the tone and themes of the book in a way I hadn’t thought possible through a visual medium. And, story aside, it just looks great. I keep pulling it up on my phone to look at it for a dopamine boost.

How does the cover work to convey what the contents of the book are?

It shows something of the setting and premise immediately: the half-submerged skeleton references the archaeological dig the characters embark on, and the wildflowers twining through it bring us into the Siberian summer. Tonally, it’s perfect too–stylish, a little bit spooky, and a little bit wry. When you know the book’s ending, the image on the cover may also seem symbolically significant, but I won’t spoil anything.