Un Cuento Oscuro is the Spanish edition of Uprooted, a high fantasy novel by Naomi Novik and winner of the 2015 Nebula Award. In the story, Agnieszka loves her valley home in the Kingdom of Polnya, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. To protect themselves, the village relies on the power of a cold, mysterious wizard known as the Dragon, the only one capable of controlling the power of the Wood. But in exchange for protection, every ten years he demands a young woman be handed over to serve him in his tower, a fate almost as terrible as falling prey to the Wood.

The publisher requested to avoid imagery akin to The Lord of the Rings and favored a cover design faithful to the fantasy genre albeit with a historical subtext. Our cover cooks explored both representational and abstract illustrations of the Wood and the village, but the most successful recipe was a depiction of a wicker tree rendered as a medieval engraving that overtakes the cover. Trapped in its intricate, red branches outreaching from its center like blood vessels, are key narrative elements from the story. The design concept carried over to the cover of Un Mundo Helado, the Spanish edition of Naomi Novik’s following novel, Spinning Silver.