The change to the direction of the horse and rider is extremely appropriate, since Benedict Silvester is not leaving, but rather is making an unexpected reappearance in, Rozenn's life. It's also interesting to see how Blair Leighton's knight has been replaced by a much less warlike traveller, and again that's very appropriate given that Rose wants to marry a knight but finds herself increasingly attracted to Benedict, who's a minstrel (albeit one who carries and knows how to use a sword).1It may also be worth noting that although there isn't a scene in the novel like the one depicted on the cover, there is a scene in which Benedict holds Rose's hand. Rose's memory of that is described in the excerpt that Townend has on her website:
A memory of the previous night flashed in on her, when she and Ben had been talking to each other with only her table between them. He had held her hand and his fingers had moved gently over hers. So gently. She could almost feel the warmth of his fingertips as she would feel them if he were to lift her hand to his lips.
- Townend, Carol. An Honourable Rogue. Richmond, Surrey: Harlequin Mills & Boon, 2008.
1 "As a minstrel, Ben had not earned the right to bear full knightly arms, but when on the Duke's business he never travelled without his shortsword" (116).
There's another, longer, excerpt from the novel and a larger picture of the front cover available here. I found the Blair Leighton at Wikipedia.
Hi Laura,
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the inspiration for the cover! One of the other Harlequin Historicals writers suggested the Art Department look at Blair Leighton's picture. But the wierd thing is that my husband and I have had dinner in the very studio in which the original was painted. We were shown a photo of Godspeed, and only later was it (coincidentally) used for the cover of An Honourable Rogue.
Best wishes
Carol
Thanks very much for confirming I was right in my guess, Carol. I'm not very visually-orientated, so I always feel pleased when I notice something like this, and it's even more pleasing that I was actually right! ;-)
ReplyDeleteRomance covers often get snarked and criticised (and they often deserve it), but sometimes they deserve praise, or at very least a little bit of non-snarky comment. I think this one, and particularly the way in which it reverses the Blair Leighton, really encapsulates two of the big issues keeping the hero and heroine apart (i.e. the fact that the hero's work involves constant travelling, whereas the heroine has lived in one place all her life, and his social status).
I agree, Laura, my first thoughts on seeing the cover was that it somehow encapsulated Ben's nomadic lifestyle and Rose's rooted one. Also it is attractive and I hoped readers would like it too. I think it was Deborah Hale who first sugggested it to the Art Department. I'm glad she did!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes
Carol
That's a really neat observation. It is so facinating to realize how covers speak to us on a very symbolic level. When looking at the cover I would absorb the meaning of the railing dividing the two characters, but I wouldn't logically think that- at least not at first.
ReplyDeleteI love it when a cover has a deep level of thought that goes into it.
When looking at the cover I would absorb the meaning of the railing dividing the two characters, but I wouldn't logically think that- at least not at first.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about the meaning of the railing, but you're absolutely right to point out that it divides them and could be thought of as a visual symbol of Pamela Regis's "barrier":
A series of scenes often scattered throughout the novel establishes for the reader the reasons that this heroine and hero cannot marry. The romance novel's conflict often consists entirely of this barrier between the heroine and hero. The elements of the barrier can be external, a circumstance that exists outside of a heroine or a hero's mind, or internal, a circumstance that comes from within either or both. (32)
The barrier's fall is a liberation for the heroine. It is a moment of rejoicing for the reader, whose response to the heroine's freedom is joy. (33)
I have never read a Harlequin Historical, but I feel like I must be missing out, especially if the insides are as good as this cover. This looks like a good one to start with.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think you're missing out, Jessica. As with single titles, though, there's a lot of variety and there are bound to be some you like better than others.
ReplyDeleteAs far as this particular one goes, you can read the first chapter here. That might take a little while to load, but it's like reading the ebook version, and you can scroll through the chapter using the green arrow keys at the top of the page. The page size increases if you click outside the area of the book's page (there's also a zoom button - the one with the magnifying glass - which does the same thing).
Harlequin Historicals do have a noticeably different style of cover from most of the single-title historicals. There's a lot less "mantitty," for example (though there is still some e.g. here). The UK covers are sometimes the same as the US ones for the same book, but often they're not. In the case of Carol's book, they were. Here's the US cover.