Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby follows the story of Fig, a young girl who takes an art class in order to better understand her mysterious father. Check out the first look at the cover!
With an emphasis on learning about Vincent Van Gogh, it seems appropriate the cover for Hurricane Season would invoke his art style. The pastel palette deepens into a more vibrant one as it rises away from the ocean, the sky swirling with a bevvy of colors.
On the beach stands a man and a girl, our two main characters, ankle-deep in the water as a wave comes crashing in.
The cover, much like Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, feels like it’s in motion and somehow captures the conflicting emotions of hope and insecurity that Fig must be feeling.
You can read the official synopsis for Hurricane Season below:
Fig, a sixth grader, wants more than anything to see the world as her father does. The once-renowned pianist, who hasn’t composed a song in years and has unpredictable good and bad days, is something of a mystery to Fig. Though she’s a science and math nerd, she tries taking an art class just to be closer to him, to experience life the way an artist does. But then Fig’s dad shows up at school, disoriented and desperately searching for Fig. Not only has the class not brought Fig closer to understanding him, it has brought social services to their door.
Diving into books about Van Gogh to understand the madness of artists, calling on her best friend for advice, and turning to a new neighbor for support, Fig continues to try everything she can think of to understand her father, to save him from himself, and to find space in her life to discover who she is even as the walls are falling down around her.
Nicole Melleby’s Hurricane Season is a stunning debut about a girl struggling to be a kid as pressing adult concerns weigh on her. It’s also about taking risks and facing danger, about love and art, and about coming of age and coming out. And more than anything else, it is a story of the healing power of love—and the limits of that power.
Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby will hit store shelves on May 7, 2019. In the meantime, you can pre-order it from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound, or add it to your Goodreads list.