A few weeks ago, a little boy was colouring in church whilst his parents were busy with various jobs around the place. I stopped to ask him what he was working on, and he explained that this was the cover of a book he was going to write all about endangered species. The book had no content yet - but the cover was full of promise!
In my experience, the cover is often the last piece of the writing puzzle to fall into place. In the case of 'Postcards' I could not be happier that it has been that way round. Husband and wife team Vivian Hansen and Alejo Porras have taken time to familiarise themselves with the book. They have accorded me the grace of walking through the landscape of grief in such a way as to understand it from my point of view. It is a curiously vulnerable thing to entrust a manuscript which has cost you so much to someone else to give it a face. I need not have worried - since it was clearly in very safe hands.
The design features a tiny, plucky tree which I encountered in Cornwall, on the last holiday Fiona and I ever took together. Battered and bashed by the strong winds blowing in from the coast at Port Quinn, it was holding its own. Twice I stopped to admire it, before getting my camera out on the third occasion. To see it fighting with the wind - and winning, inspired me then and inspires me now.
When the book comes out on August 2nd, you will find other illustrations by these talented designers inside. They will provide you with opportunities to pause and reflect as you walk through the book's landscape.
Not long to go now - and you can pre-order it here.
If I had one hope for this book - it is that it might become a beloved companion to those who are living in the land of grief, or those who are watching someone they love pass through it. This particular postcard comes 'with love'.
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