Cahaba River, tracing its winding path through the beautiful valleys of his small hometown of Shilo’s Beat, Alabama. Its headwaters are neither wide nor fierce, so it’s almost unimaginable to think that the police found his friend, Jessie, lifeless below its waters. Intent on finding answers and haunted by a progressive parasomnia that blurs the edges between reality and dreams, the symbolic and the supernatural, Billy leans on his eccentric Uncle John and a cast of characters as unique as the Cahaba itself to make sense of it all.

For the cover of this coming-of-age story, the design places Alabama's landscape and the ever-present Cahaba River center stage. Permeated by magical realism, fragmented images of the river's scenery allude to the character's upbringing, with stark white ripples mimicking the meandering contours of the river disturbing the serene setting.