In Memoriam

The first cover, for the first edition, was a plain copy of the fictitious book's cover: plain red leather with the title engraved in gold letters. Less stylish than this one, but satisfactory. When we talked about it with Bruno and Rémi Gasnier, from éditions du tremplin, they suggested adding contextual elements. A different back cover, including the summary and a biographical notice. The picture is not terrific, but it is all I had then.

As for the front cover, I wanted to have, on the left-hand side, the black and white fingers of a young girl holding the book, and on the right-hand side the color picture of an elder man's hand. It would have looked as if someone was holding the book. A character who would now be a woman from the past, and now an old man from the present. It was a shortcut of the plot. Then, Rémi added the esoteric symbol, which none of us could identify with certainty. It vaguely ressembles a Celtic cross, but not quite. It vaguely ressembles a Satanic design, pentacle-like, but not quite... In a word, impossible to decide whether it is a divine or diabolical sign. Which fits the book, since no one knows if it comes from God or the Devil... The first intent was purely graphic, but I soon accepted the change. And as they were taking the pictures of the hands (on the cover, you can see the hands of Rémi Gasnier and his partner's), Bruno had a brilliant idea. Instead of just going with the fingers, he suggested this pose, which is clearly reminiscent of Michelangelo's painting... God's and Adam's hands...

I like this cover a lot. It is beautiful, it is red, and thus I am in a position, on my site, to make a French flag with the covers of my three books !