I love the visual arts as well as the literary ones. So I cannot resist dabbling in the craft of book jacket design for the first time in my career. Here's my latest version of the book jacket for No Truer Hearts, which incorporates one of my favorite photos of Beverly (by Associate Press photographer Douglas Healey, taken in Beverly's Stamford home on May 24, 2002). There is a universe of emotion in those sky-blue eyes. Her face is slightly drawn and thin, from months of mourning, pain, anger and stress. But I still love her complex expression, at once loving, mournful, hopeful and strong. And she is hugging Sean, as she did so often when he was alive. If a photo is all that remains of a loved one, or a watch, a shirt, or a lock of hair, we will hold on to the precious relic in a tender way, hoping to receive through our fingertips some of the living presence that once had contact with the same object.
In addition to the work I've done on these visual elements, I have also changed the working sub-title of the book, removing the "story of love, loss and 9/11 reform," because it seemed redundant in the context of the photo, and sleep-inducing (for most people) with the word "reform." It was indeed a journey that Beverly took during the too-brief and dramatic course of her life. She passed through the hell of 9/11, accomplished great things with the help of her colleagues and allies, and now she is in the "beyond"...
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