30 books that you can totally judge by their covers

The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin

Chloe Benjamin’s The Immortalists also received a ton of hype at the beginning of the year, partly for its premise and partly for its gorgeous cover. The cover art for this particular book is simple – a black background, a tree, and autumn-colored leaves. But despite its simplicity, it’s an aesthetic you might want on your bookshelf.

Of course, you might want The Immortalists on your bookshelf for reasons beyond its cover. The book raises the question of what we would do with our lives if we already knew when we would die. With a premise like that, the cover is almost secondary.

Set in New York during the late 1960s, Benjamin’s novel details the arrival of a psychic who claims that she can predict the day someone will die. Naturally, adolescents from all over the city flock to her to learn their fortunes. Among these teenagers are the Gold siblings.

The story then follows the four Gold children as they allow the psychic’s prophecies to dictate their decisions for decades after their visit with her. But in doing this, are they simply creating self-fulfilling prophecies? You’ll need to read their stories to decide.