Picador UK recently spoke to Art Director, Rachel Vale, about how the beautiful cover design for the UK edition of The Good People came about.
'It was an absolute joy working on The Good People. From the very opening pages I was overwhelmed by the rural landscape and how intrinsically it echoed the beauty and fragility of the lives it surrounded. The atmosphere the book created for me was almost a physical one that stayed with me long after I finished reading.
And it was this quiet, rugged beauty that I wanted to convey in the package for The Good People: the wonder of the natural world and its stunning detail. I have long been excited by the idea of using a leaf skeleton on a book cover, and the journey of its decay coupled with the strength it retains is a perfect motif for The Good People.
We have used an uncoated paper stock and printed foil on top of it, emphasising the bareness of the leaf's surroundings.
The foil itself plays over and under the typography, as though almost adapting to the nature of the letterforms. Depending on the time of day, the natural light and how it reflects on the foil, this cover feels new almost every time you look at it.'
For more information about the UK publication of The Good People, please look here.