Day three of Cover Reveal Week continues on Pop! Goes The Reader today as I welcome literary agent and author, Lauren Spieller, to the blog in order to reveal the cover of her forthcoming 2018 young adult debut, Your Destination Is On The Left! As regular readers are no doubt aware, I have a particular weakness for road-trip stories (In Honor!, Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour!), and have been counting the days until the release of Lauren’s, specifically, ever since I first learned of it. Coming to a bookstore and library near you June 2018 from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Your Destination Is On The Left tells the story of Dessa Rhodes, a girl whose path has always been shaped by the freedom of the open road, and whose future opens up in new and unexpected ways when her life doesn’t go exactly as planned. The cover of Your Destination Is On The Left was designed by Krista Vossen with accompanying illustrations by Rebecca Elfast. Please read on to learn more about Lauren Spieller’s exciting debut, including the exclusive cover reveal, complete synopsis and a special note from the author about the novel’s origins and inspiration!
Hi everyone! I’m so excited to be revealing the cover of my debut YA contemporary today on Pop! Goes The Reader! Here’s a bit about the book and the inspiration behind it:
The idea for Your Destination Is On The Left came to me shortly after I moved to New York in 2014. My husband and I had just hauled a trailer full of our stuff (okay, 75% were my books) all the way from California, and we were reeling from the trip. I was no stranger to long drives — I’d driven from the Midwest to CA and back at least four times during college and grad school — but the trip to New York was by far the longest.
I started to think about how hard it would be to drive for more than a week, which made me think of what is arguably the Original Road Trip — The Odyssey. (Yes, I’m a nerd, why do you ask?). Suddenly my mind was spinning. What if I did a retelling of The Odyssey, but instead of it being about Odysseus, it was about a Greek-American teenager named Dessa? And instead of traveling home after the fall of Troy, she was a nomad, living in an RV caravan, traveling the United States? And what if, instead of battling the monsters of mythology, she was forced to contend with her own personal demons? Before long I was rereading Homer’s epic and researching RV life, not to mention all the wonderful places along Route 66.
Three years later, the book has changed a lot — it’s really more inspired by The Odyssey than it is a retelling — but Homer’s story will always hold a special place in my heart!
After two years of working on Destination, I had no idea what to expect when it came to a book cover. Luckily Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers has an incredible design team, and with the help of my wonderful editor, Catherine Laudone, they came up with a cover I am absolutely IN LOVE with. What you see is East San Francisco Street, which runs alongside the Santa Fe Plaza in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico (where my story is set). The street is lined with artist booths, which is a scene taken directly from my book! In fact, I was recently in Santa Fe, and when we turned onto San Francisco Street and I saw the beautiful Cathedral at the end of the street, I burst into happy tears. It was my cover in real life!
About Lauren Spieller
Lauren Spieller is a literary agent who lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband. When she isn’t writing, she can be found drinking lattes, pining for every dog she sees, or visiting her native California. Your Destination Is On The Left is her debut novel.
Title Your Destination Is On The Left
Author Lauren Spieller
Pages N/A
Intended Target Audience Young Adult
To Be Published June 2018 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Find It On Goodreads ● Amazon.com
Dessa Rhodes is a modern-day nomad. Her family travels in an RV, their lives defined by state lines, exit signs, and the small communal caravan they call home. Among them is Cyrus, her best friend and long-time crush, whom she knows she can never be with. When your families are perpetually linked, it’s too dangerous to take a risk on romance. Instead, Dessa looks to the future. She wants to be a real artist and going to art school is her ticket to success and a new life. There’s just one problem: she hasn’t been accepted…anywhere. Suddenly her future is wide open, and it looks like she’s going to be stuck traveling forever.
Then an unexpected opportunity presents itself: an internship working with a local artist in Santa Fe. Dessa struggles to prove to her boss — and herself — that she belongs there, but just as she finally hits her stride, her family suffers an unexpected blow. Faced with losing everything that she has worked for, Dessa has a difficult decision to make. Will she say goodbye to her nomadic lifestyle and the boy she loves? Or will she choose to never stop moving?
One Response
It’s gorgeous! I can’t wait to read it.