BWW Previews: Highly Anticipated Debut Novel WE HUNT THE FLAME by Hafsah Faizal Reveals Its Cover

This week, highly anticipated debut novel WE HUNT THE FLAME by Hafsah Faizal debuted its shiny new cover. Faizal is an American Muslim and website + graphic designer with her own online store, IceyDesigns. Her debut novel is a high fantasy set in the world of ancient Arabia, and designing the cover to resemble the Middle East was important to Faizal.

She told Entertainment Weekly,

"When we first began discussing cover ideas for We Hunt the Flame, what I wanted most was for the art to say, 'This is a fantasy about characters who speak a different language, who wear turbans and khaleeji and know the difference between dates, who live and breathe a different culture but have stories to tell just like everyone else,'" she says. "Calligraphy is such an integral form of art in the Middle Eastern world, and it had always been a dream to see that somehow depicted on my cover. I sent my editor a board of ideas and a stylesheet of calligraphy styles I loved, but I was still blown away when I first saw Erin Fitzsimmons' typography.

The bold gold paired with the rich blue of the arabesque background is striking, and feels so very Arab, which was more important to me than anything else," she explains. "I want young Middle Eastern readers to see this on the shelf, to eagerly tap their friend's shoulder and say, 'Hey, this looks like something from my part of the world' - the one you rarely see the beauty of in today's war-torn world.... We Hunt the Flame is about fighting the darkness -about finding that flickering flame of light, of hope, in the shadows and coaxing it to life. That's very much how this cover feels, and I cannot wait to put Zafira and Nasir's story into readers' hands."

Are you ready to check out WE HUNT THE FLAME'S gorgeous cover and read a synopsis for the fantasy everyone will be buzzing about in 2019?

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In the caliphates of Arawiya, the forest extends its palms and the sands bleed black.

In Demenhur, the Huntress dons a man's clothes, deceiving all, including herself.

In Sultan's Keep, the Prince of Death steeps his hands in blood. He no longer knows to dream.

In Alderamin, the clock chimes for the immortal elves as an ancient evil stirs in the night.

And from the shadows comes a woman, cloaked in silver and jeweled in crimson, with a letter that could change the fate of the kingdom-before the encroaching forest devours them all.

Set in a world reminiscent of Arabia, WE HUNT THE FLAME is told from the alternating viewpoints of the Huntress who must hunt down a lost artifact upon a villainous island, and the Prince of Death tasked with killing her.

WE HUNT THE FLAME is scheduled for publication May 14th, 2018 with Macmillan // Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

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