The story behind the year’s best book cover

It’s bold. It’s restrained. It’s graceful. It’s terrifying. It feels inevitable, yet it’s startling. There’s no easy way to describe the cover for Salman Rushdie’s Knife, which is why it’s one of the best book covers of the year.  So, how does a jacket for a memoir that carries as much literary and cultural significance as Knife—which details the author’s 2022 stabbing and recovery—actually come together? Scrupulously. Greg Mollica, Random House vice president, executive...