The Vanishing Act, the debut novel by Eoin Connolly, follows Colm, an anxious and isolated copywriter whose days are spent scrolling through his phone, worrying about climate catastrophe, and sharing takeout with his inexplicably talking cat, Gazdanov. After watching the foreign minister of Tuvalu deliver a press conference while standing knee-deep in rising ocean water, Colm becomes consumed by the idea of reducing his own burden on the planet and decides to disappear—first from the internet and then, increasingly, from the world itself. Both apocalyptic satire and tragicomedy, the novel explores climate anxiety, digital overload, loneliness, and the increasingly desperate ways we try to make sense of a world in crisis.
The Vanishing Act will be published on February 23, 2027, by Catapult and is available for preorder now.
Eoin Connolly is an Irish writer based in Lisbon and a recipient of a Literature Bursary Award from the Arts Council of Ireland. His short stories have appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, BOMB, and elsewhere.
Debutiful is honored to reveal the cover of The Vanishing Act, designed by Victoria Maxfield with art direction by Nicole Caputo, along with a Q&A with Connolly about its creation.
While writing the book, did you have any ideas for what you wanted the cover to look like?
To be honest, not really! I’m not a super visual person so I didn’t really think about it a whole lot. I knew I wanted to have the cat on it somehow, but apart from that, it was pretty much a blank slate.
Can you explain what the design process was like once you started working with your publishing team?
It was great. The team sent me a questionnaire which gave me the chance to mention what kinds of design aesthetics I liked, any ideas or concepts I had that I wanted to work in, and so on. The design team then got back to me with several different concepts, all of which I loved in different ways. I talked about it with my agent and my editor and we all turned out to be aligned on which was our favourite, so we got back to the team with that, and then we had the chance to provide some feedback and see a few more drafts of that main concept, which was a super enjoyable and exciting process.
What was it like seeing your finalized cover for the first time?
Pretty magical! It knocked me sideways. The final version was so original and striking and true to the feel of the book—it felt like a one of one cover. I remember printing it out at home, sticking it up on the wall above my desk, and then just sort of staring at it for a while.
How does the cover work to convey what the book is all about?
The cat, Gazdanov, is a huge part of the novel, and I think the final version really captures him: he’s got this sort of melancholy look which is totally true to his character. The way he’s sinking is spot on, since a big part of the book’s engine is Tuvalu’s impending disappearance due to sea level rise; on that note, the yellow and the blue for me are very evocative of a beach, which is appropriate as well. I like the scattered way they rendered ‘a novel’, that’s very in keeping with the vibe of the book. And finally I think the cover as a whole communicates a kind of old-school, somewhat off-beat movie poster/riviera aesthetic which suits the main character, who is, among other things, a fan of old movies. The design team got so much across in such an elegant, original way: they nailed it.