Jacaranda Books has unveiled a striking new cover for the paperback edition of Fatin Abbas’s acclaimed debut novel Ghost Season, set to release on January 29, 2026. The bold redesign marks a dramatic departure from the hardback’s soft, ethereal aesthetic, embracing instead a vivid green palette that demands attention.

Where the hardback leaned into ghostly, dreamlike imagery with pastel pink and green tones, the paperback asserts a powerful presence. The cover centers on topographical map imagery overlaid with bold green—a color drawn directly from the Sudanese flag, representing both the country’s natural resources and the hope for prosperity. A striking red line cuts through the design, symbolizing movement, conflict, and the struggle for independence.

“I wanted the paperback cover to really have that sense of presence and that rootedness of where we know Sudan to be in the moment, but also our hopes for the country,” explains Niki Igbaroola, who led the redesign process at Jacaranda Books. The shift was strategic: the softness of the hardback cover didn’t translate well to digital screens, limiting its reach. But the change goes deeper than practicality. In a moment when Sudan remains heavy on global consciousness, the new cover refuses to look away.

The design deliberately blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction, with the prominent map element giving the book an almost academic, documentary feel. This choice honors Abbas’s deep knowledge of Sudan—she was born in Khartoum and raised in New York—while maintaining the novel’s fictional heart. Beta readers, including male readers drawn to the cover’s resemblance to gaming aesthetics like Call of Duty’s war maps, suggested the design could expand the book’s audience beyond traditional literary fiction readers.

Designer continuity was crucial. Jacaranda worked with the same designer who created the hardback to ensure the two editions remained in conversation. Elements like font choice and the underlying map imagery carry through both designs, but where one whispered, the other shouts. Igbaroola notes that “the hardback jacket really leans into the ghost ethereal moments where the paperback is a lot more in your face.”

The novel itself follows five strangers at an NGO compound in Saraaya, a remote border town between northern and southern Sudan, after a mysterious burnt corpse appears. William, a South Sudanese translator; Layla, a nomad from the north; Dena, a Sudanese-American filmmaker; Alex, a white American aid worker; and Mustafa, a twelve-year-old boy with dreams of escape—all become entangled in the discovery. Abbas weaves a story about conflict, borders, climate change, and the bonds that transcend blood.

Ghost Season has already garnered significant recognition. It was longlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award and has been acquired for screen adaptation by Smashing Dandelions. Leila Aboulela praised it as “a compelling, detailed portrait of humanity under threat from war, climate change and personal ambition.” Brittle Paper previously noted that “what stayed with me as I read the book is the way Abbas can turn stories into powerful images.”

The paperback arrives at a moment when conversations about borders, migration, and displacement dominate global discourse. As Abbas continues to establish herself as a vital voice in contemporary fiction, teaching at MIT and working on new projects, this redesign ensures Ghost Season reaches the widest possible audience.

Read an excerpt below:

For the first time since his return he had felt that he was really, truly

in love. Why Layla? Perhaps because she was, on some level, inaccessible:

After all, he was a Nilot and she was a nomad. Perhaps unconsciously

he sought to reenact a complicated plot line from one of his Bollywood

films, star-crossed love triumphing against the odds.

The appearance of the body that morning, and the coincidence of

her absence, had left him stunned. Up to that point the worst that he

had been preparing himself for was disappointment—it was possible that

she would reject him. But was it possible that she was no more? It was a

terrible thought, especially with the corpse’s fingers straining there, still,

against the fabric. So he kept telling himself that it wasn’t her. It couldn’t

be.

Ghost Season (paperback) will be published by Jacaranda Books on January 29, 2026.