This was a lot of fun to work on with Albert Tang, the art director. The initial direction was straightforward: "Should feel like a good cousin to The Lion’s Den (my design for the author's previous title) But not a sequel." The direction from the cover brief was "Pretty much a woman in siren pose. Backdrop – some fancy island. (Where I want to be)" Ha--me too.

I was hired by the amazing Steve Attardo at WW Norton for this cover.

The novel is based on real events: Ethiopian female rebels fought alongside men during Mussoili's occupation of Ethiopia beginning in 1935. The "Shadow King" of the title refers to a man, but this is a woman's story. I felt like the title could also refer to Hirut, the main female character.

After reading the novel I started gathering and creating imagery.

I researched images of the female Ethiopian soldiers from the period.