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Gamache Goes Abroad: The Brutal Telling

Gamache Goes Abroad: The Brutal Telling

Goes Abroad The Brutal Telling

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Off to Greece this week, with the cover of The Brutal Telling as envisioned by our Greek colleagues. There’s clearly a stark difference between the two cover treatments: while we chose to emphasize the fall season in our jacket approach, they focus on traditional mystery elements. 

With the silhouette of a raven, their cover puts the reader in the mind of Edgar Allen Poe, and immediately suggests something sinister is afoot. In contrast, the US jacket focuses on the vibrant fall foliage of Canada, with only the darkness at the edges to symbolize danger.

Both jackets, however, speak to the untamed landscape that Chief Inspector Gamache must navigate to solve the crime. 

Which cover do you think best fits the story?

If you were designing a new cover, which elements of the book would you choose to highlight?

31 replies on “Gamache Goes Abroad: The Brutal Telling”

This week I am all in for the Canadian version.

I just finished re-reading this book for the 3-4 time, and in the Gamache site recap it states, Hermit tells Olivier a story about Chaos destroying everything in the world except one small village.
I have read it all these times and I see Olivier telling the story to the Hermit.
Love the books and go there whenever I need an escape.
Louise is an amazing writer!

And, by the way, our U.S. edition has a completely different cover, though still employing the orangy-red colors. Ours has a picture of a blazing hearth in a cobble-stone fireplace, which yells “Bistro” to me.

The leaves are so lovely and their colors, after reading, does bring to mind the Amber Room. I’m a color girl so I do gravitate to colors first.

The starkness of the Greek cover is intriguing with the mysterious black crow. The US jacket cover is appealing in the rich use of color with the fall leaves which helps to set the season.
However, given the opportunity, I would design a cover of a foreboding forest with a dark dwelling and the one bright point one be a bloodstained antique figurine peaking out of the doorway.
I had to admit I needed to review The Brutal Telling introductory recap to remind me of the plot.
https://gamacheseries.ebizontech.biz/the-brutal-telling-part-1/

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