When Severn House began production on THE MIDNIGHT MAN to transform my computer files into a living, breathing book I kept my fingers crossed that the art director would deliver a great cover. There’s a kind of default setting for covers for books that involve murder in the 19th Century - and that is slap on an image of a gent in silhouette wearing a top hat.
So, all through writing the novel I had this mantra playing the back of my head, ‘Don’t let it be the gent in the top hat, don’t let it be…’ etc. They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but I yearned for a great cover that would proclaim to the world its Vincent Van Gogh story-line.
Now I’m delighted to announce that the Severn House art director has done the book justice and delivered the beautifully Van Gough-ian cover you see pictured here.
It’s derived from the artist’s The Sower With Setting Sun. Painted in the summer of 1888. This is Van Gogh’s attempt to create an image that he must have seen in his mind’s eye for many a year. There are sketches for the Sower theme at the beginning of his career. More than anything he wanted to produce a painting that spoke ‘a symbolic language through colour alone.’ On one level The Sower is a representation of the peasant working the field. However, Van Gogh was interested in evoking the eternal cycles of life as much as the seasons of nature. The Sower’s companion piece is The Reaper where the farmer might be harvesting souls rather than gathering wheat.
It’s such a great cover I’ll be taking it to the framers this week. Then all I have to do is to decide which wall to hang it on.
By the way, the link to the virtual tour of the Yellow House can be found below.
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