Designing the cover of a new book is an intriguing challenge. How to convey an element of the story in such a way that will attract a reader and convince him or her to buy a copy...but not give away too much? Or, conversely, how to conceal certain aspects so that the reader will be surprised by what emerges?
In The Fire Portrait, we wanted to reflect a particular view of Africa: the stark mountains, the semi-desert plains, the sense of space, the clarity of light, a young woman alone in an alien environment and... a whiff of fire. I also liked the idea of creating a cover that would have a link with my previous novels, The Housemaid's Daughter and The Girl from Simon's Bay. And that link lay in the figure of a young women or a young girl, standing alone, seen from the rear, gazing out over a land or seascape.
When it was done, I found myself surprised and delighted by a particular feature of the finished product that we had not necessarily targeted. It turned out that the colours chosen for the cover not only conjured up the broader landscape - and the whiff of fire - but also mimicked the colours of the plants that Frances, the heroine, paints. This was brought home to me most dramatically when I took the published book back into the area where the story is set and posed it against the weathered bark of a quiver tree. It blended into its surroundings with ease.
An almost-perfect camouflage? Perhaps revealing and concealing at the same time...
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