Cover artwork by Romy Blümel for ‘Cain’ by José Saramago, from Vintage Books' ‘Brief Encounters’ series of ‘classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days’.

Written in the last years of Saramago's life, Cain is a controversial and witty story of a wilful, authoritarian God.

After killing his brother, Cain is condemned to wander the earth. As he moves through time, he encounters moments from the Old Testament – acts of faith, violence and divine judgement that he cannot accept without question. Cain is José Saramago’s bold, darkly playful reimagining of a biblical outcast.

"Landscape Portrait' is Tom Gauld's 12th cover for the New Yorker and was inspired by a trip to the British Museum;

“I went to an exhibition in the British Museum of Early Netherlandish drawings and was blown away by the landscapes. The were so small and intricate but had such depth: drawing your eye from blades of grass in the foreground to a ship on the horizon. I felt inspired to try making a drawing of my own in this style. As soon as I stepped out of the quiet dark of the exhibit, I was surrounded by flocks of happy tourists snapping away with their phones. I thought the contrast between these two worlds would make a fun cover.”

As part of an ongoing personal project, Zoé Maghamès Peters is reimagining the covers of three novels by Jeffrey Eugenides.

The first in the series responds to The Virgin Suicides, referencing the suburban neighbourhood of 1970s Grosse Pointe, Michigan, the backdrop to the lives of the Lisbon sisters.