… well, partially at least. Not to worry, Dear Reader, I’m not about to chuck away all the lovely Earl Grey now that fall is here; this is a post about a novel and its cover.

Some while ago, talented historical fiction author Samantha Wilcoxson commissioned a new cover for her biographical novel about the American revolutionary Nathan Hale. Never having heard of him before, it was an exciting project to be brought aboard on.

Samantha had worked with a digital artist, who reconstructed Nathan Hale’s face from the 1893 statue by Frederick William MacMonnies that now stands in City Hall Park, NYC. Now that illustration needed to be fitted with text into a book cover design, and that’s where I came in.

Nathan Hale was a young philosophy student at Yale when the rebellion in the American colonies developed into full scale revolutionary war. He joined Washington’s army but after only a year or so, he was captured by the British and executed as a spy. He was only twentyone.

Two things struck me from the beginning: the evanescence of life in general, but of such a short one in particular. A young man who had such an impact was here one minute and then, the next, he was not.

The other thing was that nobody actually knows what Nathan Hale looked like; there are no contemporary images of him. The illustration the Cheryl Daniel at Digital Yarbs created, brought him from bronze to flesh and bone. And Samantha Wilcoxson’s novel does much the same thing. Written in 1st person POV, it almost takes on the guise of a diary, reviving his voice and thoughts.

So I wanted to empasise that fleeting moment, the brief time that we get to hold Nathan Hale in our hands, and our fragmentary grasp we have of this man, echoing Samantha’s portrait with brush strokes, creating a face emerging from a dark canvas. The rip design reflects the tear of revolution and also reinforces the impression of a canvas.

Purple is a colour that sometimes represents anxiety, loss, and dreams. Orange is a youthful, passionate, and energetic colour. And baby-blue for the boy he wasn’t allowed to be. It’s said that Nathan Hale’s last words were that his one regret was that he had “but one life” to give for his country.

‘But One Life’ is free on Kindle Unlimited and will be on sale for $0.99 on Kindle this weekend. Make sure to grab your copy of this fascinating story!