In Hands, Pardeep Toor takes readers through a series of stories that explore lofty ideals of assimilation in America and the brutal comedy of the journey. Maria Kuznetsova, author of Oksana, Behave! calls the collection “As devastating, hilarious, and absurd as the immigrant experience itself.”
Toor won the PEN American Dau Prize, and his writing has appeared in the Best Debut Short Stories 2021, Southern Humanities Review, Electric Literature, Midwest Review, and Longreads. His debut book is available for pre-order now and will be published by Cornerstone on April 14, 2026.
Debutiful is honored to reveal the cover of Hands, which was designed by Hasreet Gill, along with a Q&A with Toor and Gill about its creation.
While writing the book, did you have any ideas for what you wanted the cover to look like?
PT: It’s hard to ever imagine the book being published while you’re writing it so the short answer is “no,” I never allowed myself to skip steps and imagine the cover (Ha!). But, a lot of images popped in my head as publication became a possibility. I thought of the cover thematically. What does a blue-collar immigrant experience with a side of toxic masculinity look like? How South Asian does the cover need to be? What does it even mean to be South Asian cover art? The number of possibilities were extensive and I was biased toward all the characters, scenes, and themes in the stories, no one particular thing could rise above the rest to be on the cover.
I will admit that I was set on having Hans, or a silhouette of Hans on the cover. The stories are so character driven that I felt it was appropriate to have some representation of the main character on the cover. But I didn’t share this vision with my cousin, Hasreet, when I first discussed designing the cover with her. She’s a visionary and incredible artist and I trust her judgment more than I do my own. As a writer, I’m always obsessed with control, controlling the characters, plot, stories etc. It was really nice to give up that control and work with an artist I adore and completely trust. I was elated to go with an image that she constructed after engaging with the stories.
What was it like seeing your finalized cover for the first time?
PT: It was emotional. I still can’t believe it’s real. The process of a Word document becoming a book with a cover, spine, typeface, and color is magical. Each step brings the pages to life. It took me a long time to get published but it’s all been worth it because we’re here now. I can assure aspiring writers that their patience and perseverance will be rewarded once you see your publication come together. The cover is a huge part of it. It’s the first impression of your book with your name plastered all over it. My name doesn’t appear that many times on any other document in the world!
After seeing the cover, the emotion I felt was overwhelming disbelief. It’s something that you never let yourself believe will happen, until it does, and then it’s surreal.I love that the murky beauty of my cover contrasts with the chaos in the stories. The cover is a refuge from the pages. For me, the cover represents what’s possible and unattainable for Hans. It’s a tease of a better life that may not ever be realized. I’m fascinated that this is the scene and moment that Hasreet wanted to represent on the cover. Despite the ugliness in the collection, this oddly sentimental moment is what stood out to her. I’m curious to learn how readers view the cover before and after reading the stories.
How did you come up with the cover design?
HG: Pardeep reached out to me about designing the cover and I was beyond honored to do it. He sent me the full draft of the collection and I read it in one sitting. I tried to be hypersensitive to the images he’s able to depict so cleanly and beautifully in his writing – places, moments, characters, etc. also looked at my books, at the time I was reading Iris Murdoch’s Under the Net. The cover illustration depicts objects described only once during an intimate scene. I love that feeling when you realize you’ve been holding the moment you’re reading in a story, like “Oh! This is what I’ve been looking at!” The hazy lake from Stranded in the Dunes was enchanting and gloomy and perfect for that.
Can you explain what the design process was like once you started working with your publishing team?
HG: Starting with a few ideas, Pardeep and I had a few meetings over the course of multiple weeks and landed on two final digital concept sketches that we both loved, one of which was the hazy lake view. We sent that to the publisher, who made a mock-up with the cover text. I had always envisioned the lake as a full painting, so I then painted it in oil. The painted texture felt crucial for the full effect. The publisher was kind enough to wait for me to complete the painting, and then swapped out the placeholder sketch with a high-resolution scan of the painting and it all came together from there.
How does the cover work to convey what the book is all about?
HG: What I found most compelling (and tragic) about the main character Hans is his yearning for a good life, but he can’t help but fall further into darkness. I think the image of this idyllic lake obscured by fog delivers that same sort of heartbreak. It was even frustrating adding the clouds, since I painted the lake clearly first. I wish we could just see a bright day the same way I wish Hans would be better and find a better life.