Trying to find the best face for Shanty Gold has been challenging. While working with Genene, the publisher’s artist, we batted around close to a hundred ideas before we
settled on what we think is the perfect cover.
Some were mysterious—some subtle—some scary—and some a bit too romance-y. Then, we nailed it.
So, Ta Da! Here it is.
Genene used pictures I took in Ireland for the background—the ocean, the castle, the clover, the skies. She kept them muted in pretty much black and white. Why? Because what we wanted the reader to focus on was Mary Boland.
Mary Boland, with her wild red hair and questioning eyes. Mary Boland, young, beautiful, wounded, and resilient. Mary Boland in the dress her betrayer had found for her in the church basement at Queenstown, the Cork harbor.
What do you think of her? Please, please, please tell me. I’ve had lots of opinions from lots of people. She’s too glam. She’s too mature. She’s got a wisdom in her eyes that few young girls possess.
But here’s the clincher–she looks exactly like the girl who invaded my dreams all those years—riding a chestnut horse along the Irish Sea coast. She is Mary Boland.