Cover Reveal: Lonely Places by Kate Anderson

Cover Reveal: Lonely Places by Kate Anderson

We are thrilled to help reveal the cover for Lonely Places by Kate Anderson, coming from Flux Books this fall. I love how dark and spooky this cover is – the illustrations are almost a painting I could see hanging in a nice moody room! Check out all the book details below and a little Q&A about the author’s inspirations! Lonely Places is releasing on October 29th and you can preorder now – and if you order directly from Flux you can take 30% off fall release preorders using code FALL2024!

Illustrator: Kelsey Oseid
Designer: Kate Liestman

Lonely Places

by Kate Anderson
Published by: Flux Books
on October 29th 2024
Genres: Horror, Mythology/Folklore, Thriller, Young Adult
Pages: 304
Bookshop, IndieBound
Goodreads

After a traumatic experience steals her younger sister Guthrie’s voice, sixteen-year-old Chase and her family move to an isolated fire lookout in Pando, a grove of Aspen tree clones connected by a massive underground root system. The lookout is supposed to give the family stability after years spent traveling the country in a converted school bus, but all Chase wants is to go back to the hometown they fled eight years ago.

When Chase gets a job at a nearby summer camp, she learns that something happened at the lookout, something no one wants to talk about. Chase isn’t entirely surprised: Pando is a place where odd things happen, like birds singing on a loop or bones sprouting out of the ground like wildflowers. Worse? Pando is changing Guthrie, and Chase doesn’t know how to stop it or even if she should.

Despite her resolve to protect Guthrie, Chase becomes increasingly distracted by Wilder, the lifeguard at camp who offers her a taste of normalcy and a new perspective on her skoolie family. But more time with Wilder means less time with Guthrie, and the mysterious force in the forest draws Guthrie deeper into its darkness—until she’s nowhere to be found. Chase must face her own childhood trauma and find her way into a strange and sinister world to rescue her sister before Guthrie is lost to the lonely places forever.

Q&A with Author Kate Anderson

Author’s note on the cover:

I had a very clear vision of what I wanted for the cover of Lonely Places from the very beginning, and I was thrilled with how the illustrator Kelsey Oseid brought the aspen grove setting of Pando to life. The design team did such a fabulous job creating the title treatment, which is what I think really sets this cover apart. There’s more to it than what you first see–secrets hidden in the trees, just like in Pando–and I can’t wait to reveal the rest of the illustration later on!

What inspired you to write this book?

I watched a Missing 411 documentary years ago and was completely captivated by the idea of people disappearing in national parks. Then my family visited Pando in central Utah and I knew it was the perfect setting for a story about a family fleeing trauma and then having to face the ramifications of that choice. There’s something magical about Pando—on the surface, it looks like any other aspen grove, but when you consider how the trees are all connected into one vast organism, it becomes something else, something full of possibilities.

What is your favorite quote, scene, or moment from your book?

One of my favorite scenes to write was when Chase comes across her younger sister Guthrie sleepwalking for the first time. It takes her a few moments to realize what is happening, and she’s very shaken up. This scene was inspired by something that happened with my youngest daughter, so it was fun to write. There are several things in Lonely Places inspired by things in my life!

I also really love all the interactions between Chase and Wilder. I think their relationship is so special and sweet, and it was fun to develop.

.