Chasing Sunflowers - all ready to go!

Stunning, print-ready cover

Chasing Sunflowers - back and front cover!

One book, so many decisions, who knew?

11pt or 12pt?

Title pages/half title pages/dedications/permissions/copyright

Garamond or Palatino?

Who gets a review copy?

And how to brief a cover designer when the picture you have in your head comprises a medley of all the images in the entire book? 

But it's getting there. The Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam have kindly given permission to quote up to 50 words from Vincent’s letters for free – so one small panic over!

The cover now has a back and a spine and would have been perfect if I hadn't changed the type size at the last moment causing the book to be slightly wider. All delays my own fault!

The Advance Information Sheet is almost ready to send out and the list of people to send it to is growing exponentially. Will any of them be interested? 

They should be! Chasing Sunflowers is not only a good read but topical too and will be released to coincide (almost!) with 125 years of Van Gogh inspiration. He died on 29th July 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.

But Chasing Sunflowers is more about heroine Kate breaking out of her chrysalis than about Vincent van Gogh himself. Although she is inspired by his paintings the real catalyst is her attractive and mysterious art-history teacher who paints her in his studio in the trendy Jordaan area of Amsterdam. What happens next? You’ll have to read the book to find out!

Chasing Sunflowers - the evolution of a book cover. Almost there!

Taken from:  Chasing Sunflowers

 

Kate turned sharply. The tall man with the pony tail and light blue eyes had somehow materialised at her elbow.

‘You are the woman with the young boy, I think? Or perhaps I am mistaken?’ He raised his eyebrows in polite query.

‘Er, yes, no,’ she heard herself stammer. ‘At least, I haven’t got my son with me.’

‘So I can see.’ The eyes glinted amusement. ‘You are perhaps staying a long time in our city so you can come often to this museum? You can come to know the artist well.’

‘I hope so.’ Kate surprised herself with the force of her words. ‘I love these paintings,’

‘Of course.’ The man’s expression stated clearly that anything less would be unreasonable.

He understood! Kate felt as though she had been given a shot of adrenalin.

‘This work,’ he indicated the Glass of Absinthe, ‘this was painted in Paris. I expect the setting is familiar to you. The light is green-grey. It’s a bit like London, perhaps? The Sunflowers on the other hand...’ with a light touch he turned her towards them, ‘...you must go south to know these. You cannot really understand these paintings until you see the zonnebloemen in the fields.’

She twisted back to face him. ‘You seem to know an awful lot about it all.’

‘Sure.’ He smiled. ‘As I told your son, I’m a painter but I also teach Van Gogh, here in the museum. We have a class starting next week. Why don’t you join us?’

Kate frowned. ‘I’d love to but the language...’

He held up his hands to silence her. ‘That would be no problem. You can start to learn Dutch and after the class we can take a coffee and go over everything in English.’

‘But really..,’ Kate stammered, ‘I mean, that would be great but...isn’t it a bit much to ask?’

‘Did you ask? I didn’t hear you. I thought I offered.’ He shook his head. ‘You don’t understand. I am Dutch, I don’t say things just to be polite.’

‘Thanks. I’ll think about it.’ She smiled, doubtfully.

‘I believe that’s English for ‘no’. Pity.’ He gave small shrug, his eyes crinkled at the corners. Kate felt their gaze like the strokes of a brush on her cheeks, tinting them red.

‘Anyway, I must leave,’ he concluded. ‘Enjoy your visit.’

She took a sharp breath as if to reply although she had no idea what she might have been about to say. It didn’t matter anyway because he had gone and she was left standing, exposed, in the middle of the gallery, her back hot where he had touched it. She shook herself and took another look at the Sunflowers, trying to imagine them in the fields of southern France.