Welcome to Shelf Candy Saturday!!
This weekly feature
showcases beautiful book covers,
and provides information,
if available, on their very talented creators!
For more information
about Shelf Candy Saturday,
just click HERE.
Here's my choice for this week!!
Dark Road to Darjeeling
(Lady Julia Grey, #4)
Trade Paperback, 400 pages
Mira
October 1, 2010
Historical Fiction, Mystery, Romance
Why do I love this cover?
This cover is obviously inspired by the famous one for Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. After that novel became a worldwide hit, several covers were produced with the image of hands (usually female) holding something out to the viewer. In this case, it's a beautiful, dark red rose.
Although this imagery may have been a little overused by now, I still love the cover of Dark Road to Darjeeling (needless to say, I've loved the one for Twilight for a long time now), because of the bold shapes, that contrast with the delicacy of some details, and the soft colors that contrast with the dark red of the rose.
The pastel orange of the dress worn by the cover model is especially beautiful, with those folds that shade into a darker tone.
The white gloves are simply exquisite! I love the little buttons on the wrists, as well as the small, wrinkled folds that travel up the arms.
The light gray jacket (that's what it seems to be) that covers the dress is also quite beautiful. Its color nicely complements those of the gloves, rose, and dress.
I also like the font used for the title. I think it has a little of the flavor of India. My only complaint regarding it is that I wish it were bigger. (The author's name should be a little smaller, in my opinion.)
In short, this is a gorgeous cover, one that captures the eye right away. It's soft, feminine, and yet, the large shapes ensure that it also makes a bold visual statement. Further contributing to the old-fashioned charm of this image is the fact that the edges of the cover are dark. This reminds me of a type of 19th-century photograph called a daguerreotype. I think this renders the image even more beautiful, and even adds poignancy to it.
Unfortunately, I have been unable to get any information about the photographer who took this gorgeous picture. The book's credits page does not mention this person at all, which is rather sad....Had it not been for that cover, I don't think I would have ever noticed this book at all, since I don't normally read mysteries. I might very well start with this book, though, just because of that luscious cover!
What do you think of my choice?
Leave me a comment
and let me know!
I am not sure if there is any significance in it, but there seem to be at a couple of ovoid shapes as part of the picture, one within the other. For me, this gives the picture an elegant and ornate feel.
ReplyDeleteHey, Brian!
DeleteThat's an interesting observation! I think you're right. This is also because the edges of the photograph are dark, thus creating the larger ovoid shape. This reminded me of a 19th-century photographic process known as "daguerreotype", so I Googled it, and copied and pasted the Wikipedia link into my text.
This cover is SO lovely, SO appealing to me, that I think I will indeed buy this book!! I read part of the first chapter on the Amazon reader, and really liked what I read!
Thanks for another terrific comment!! : )