Currently Reading: Queen's Bounty by Fiona Buckley

I have mentioned here one or two times that I am a sucker for a series, and I will stick around for the long term to continue a series. I do, however, much prefer to read a series in order.

The Ursula Blanchard mysteries is kind of an example of a long term commitment.  I read the first instalment of the series back in May 2005 (preblogging days) and then proceeded to read all 8 books in the series over the next ten months. Apparently I used to read a series a lot quicker back then! I did a spotlight post on the series a few years ago now which you can read here.

After that there was no word of a new book in the series, even though it clearly wasn't finished. I wanted to find out what happened next in the life of Ursula, her daughter Meg, her servants. Would she be drawn back into the intrigues that were so prevalent in the court of Elizabeth I. Would William Cecil find just one more job for Ursula to perform for Queen and country, or would she be allowed to live a quiet life in the country with her family and friends?

I was very surprised earlier this year when I found out that there was finally going to be a new instalment in the series after a gap of more than 7 years! And even better, my library had a copy on order. I requested it straight away and then had to wait.

Now that I have started reading it, there is no way that it feels as though there had been a gap of years between reading the last book and this one, until there started to be references to made to events that clearly happened in the last book, and I couldn't remember them. Undeterred I kept reading until something prompted me to have a look at Goodreads and there was reference to another book.

It turns out that I missed the news that there was a new book out late last year or early this year and so not only has there been a significant gap in reading the books but now I am reading the books out of order! The strange thing is, my library hasn't bought Queen Without a Crown (9th book in the series) but has bought this book which is the 10th book in the series.

Oh well, guess I can't do much about it now that I am more than a 100 pages into the book, but I would have much preferred to have realised this before I go to this point!

Currently reading: Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

I should be at book club tonight discussing this book. There are two reasons why I am not. The first is that I am only half way through the book despite the fact that I was very pleased when this was announced as the choice for this month. I actually went and heard Geraldine Brooks talk when she came to Melbourne last year and she also signed my copy of the book so it was a great excuse to finally actually read the book!

The second and most important reason is that it is the school holidays and the boy invited a friend over for a sleepover. He then rang and asked if it is okay and my answer was not really because I was going to be out tonight and at work tomorrow. It turned out that the friend was already in the driveway - fait accompli. I figured that it would be best if I actually was at home at least tonight.

I am just over half way through the book and I am enjoying it. I generally like Brooks' writing but I have, in the past, had issues with her endings. It will be interesting to see if that is the case with this book. I am kind of wondering about the title, Caleb's Crossing. Yes, there is an important character called Caleb but his story is not the main focus of the book as such. The main character is a young girl, Bethia, and so far she has had more than her fair share of hardship. I just reread my post about her visit last year and am reminded that she actually talked about the reason for using Bethia as the narrator during her talk.

Below are the synopsis and the trailer:

In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. From the few facts that survive of his extraordinary life, Geraldine Brooks creates a luminous tale of love and faith,  magic and adventure. 


When Bethia Mayfield, a spirited twelve-year-old living in the rigid confines of an English Puritan settlement - and the daughter of a Calvinist minister - meets Caleb, young son of a Wampanoag chieftain, the two forge a secret friendship that draws each into the alien world of the other. 


As Bethia's father feels called to convert the Wampanoag to his own strict faith, he awakens the wrath of the medicine men. Caleb becomes a prize in this contest between old ways and new, eventually taking his place at Harvard, studying Latin and Greek alongside the sons of the colonial elite. 


Fighting for a voice in a society that requires her silence,  Bethia becomes entangled in Caleb's struggle to navigate the intellectual and cultural shoals that divide their two cultures. 


Once again, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks brings to vivid life a shard of little-known history, and through Bethia and Caleb explores the intimate spaces of the human heart.

Bookish Quotes: Liar Bird by Lisa Walker

I am currently reading Liar Bird by Lisa Walker. I am not 100% sure how I would characterise it in terms of genre, but I am leaning towards the catch-all women's fiction or even chick lit. Whatever you want to call it, there is no way you could mistake the setting for anything other than Aussie.

My Bookish Quote/Teaser Tuesday comes from the page 5 so right at the beginning of the book when we are just getting to know the main character, Cassandra. Her perfect life is just about to fall apart in a big way.

I knew I had about ten minutes, maybe twenty - plenty of time. My feet sank into the hand-woven Turkish carpet as I padded to the meditation room. Pulling out my tattered copy of The Annotated Alice, I opened it randomly, closed my eyes and pressed my find to the page. "You don't know much," said the Duchess, "and that's a fact."

I nodded - so true. Spot on, in fact.

Why Alice in Wonderland? I know it's not what most thirty-year-old PR executives read. Well, we all have our means of coping. Some people are into Oprah; others, Buddha; and some - well, me - rely on Alice. I first discovered the wisdom of Alice at the age of eight...

What follows after this quote is a whole passage about how Cassie found the book and how much she treasured it, but it was too long to type it all out!

I can't imagine using a book like Alice in Wonderland as guidance for life, can you?

Before I finish this post, I thought I would share a video about the native Australian Lyrebird that this book obviously has taken inspiration from in terms of the title at least. This bird has the amazing ability to be able to mimic all sort of noises - other bird species, construction tools, cars, humans and more!




This video was all about Chook who was the male lyrebird at the Adelaide Zoo. He died recently at the grand old age of 32.

In addition to the mimicry, they can put on a very impressive display with their tails to help protect their territory. An all round amazing Australian native animal.

There has been an appearance of one lyrebird in the book so far, along with some other rare wildlife!

Currently Reading: Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik

Is there anything nicer than reading a book about how reading brings such comfort and joy to the avid reader? This quote comes from page 31 and 32:

What mattered was that for a few hours she could forget her world and enter someone else's.

Books were Faith's easiest friends. They demanded nothing from her but her attention.

She opened the cover and ran her hands over the page, enjoying the paper's cool texture under her hand.

Chapter one. How many times in her life had those two words invited her to go to a different place, a better place than the one she lived in.

She read the words again before plunging into the first paragraph, and then the lights went out.

This book has long been a book club favourite, and yes, I am reading it for my book club!

Currently Reading: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

As a result of starting Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins this morning, I would now like to:

Be here:

Photo credit

Be reading this:

Be eating this:

Here's a fan made trailer, just for fun!

Currently Reading: The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

I read Kate Morton's last two books a couple of years ago, and so it feels like I have been waiting quite a while to read The Distant Hours! I knew I wanted to read it before I saw this trailer, but after I saw it, I wanted the book much, much more! Such a clever trailer, and it definitely plays up the gothic angle of the book!

And yes, I have posted it on my blog before, but it is so good it is worth posting again:




As an interesting counter, this is the Australian trailer for the book. Whilst it is much more...unexciting... than the other trailer, it does tell you more about what the book is about, and you hear Kate Morton talking about how the book came to her!

The Drop Bears post

I am currently reading The Third Day, The Frost by John Marsden which is the third book in the Tomorrow series.

Here's the blurb:

Live what you believe in... die fighting for it.

The third day comes a frost... a killing frost.

The enemy spreads across the land, cold and relentless. They invade. They destroy. They kill.

Only the heroism of Ellie and her friends can stop them.

When hot courage meets icy death, who will win through?


The Third Day, The Frost is the third volume in the award-winning Tomorrow series.

When I was reading it this morning, I was struck by two thoughts.

One is that there are some books that you really shouldn't read the ending before you get to it (yes, I know that a fairy dies every time you do this, but what can I say, I can't help myself!)

The second thing was that I was wondering how certain Australianisms come across to people outside of Australia. For example, there was this whole section about drop bears on pages 14 - 15..

"I hope you know what you are doing, sitting under that tree."

"What for? "

"Well, this time of day, middle of the afternoon, that's when the drop bears get active."

"That's right," the other man said. "Shocking area for drop bears, this."

"I wouldn't sit under that tree for a million dollars," the first man said.

Terrible what those drop bears do. I've seen them take a bloke's face off. Those claws. Gawd, they'd give you the horrors."

"And you never see the one that gets you."

"That's the truth."

"What for, drop bears?" the boy asked.

I'd worked around a bit further, to where I could see his face. He was fidgeting anxiously, but trying to look untroubled.

"You don't know what drop bears are? Fair dink, don't they teach you blokes anything? Fancy sending a bloke to a place like this and not telling him about drop bears."

"They told you about sharks, didn't they?" the second man asked.

"Sharks, yes."

"And crocodiles?"

"Crocodiles, yes."

"And hoop snakes?"

The boy hesitated. "Hoop snakes, yes," he said after a moment.

"Well, I'll tell you what mate, I'd rather go fifteen rounds with a crocodile than have a drop bear land on my head."

"What for, drop bears?" the boy asked again. He was showing real nervousness now, standing up straighter against the motorbike and with increased alertness in his voice. The men stopped working and spoke to him directly.

"Mate," the first one said, with great seriousness, "it's none of my business if you end up wearing a drop bear for a hat, but if you want to keep that good looking face attached to your head, I wouldn't recommend you spend any more time under trees."

So, anyone know what a drop bear is?

Currently Reading: Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie

It has been a long time since we have had a Jennifer Crusie book. Yes, she has done collaborations with all kinds of people, but for pure Jennifer Crusie, the last one was Bet Me which was released in 2004.

Here's the blurb:

The New York Times bestselling author of Bet Me, Tell Me Lies and Welcome to Temptation delivers her long-awaited novel

Andie Miller is ready to move on in life. She wants to marry her fiancé and leave behind everything in her past, especially her ex-husband, North Archer. But when Andie tries to gain closure with him, he asks one final favor of her before they go their separate ways forever. A very distant cousin of his has died and left North as the guardian of two orphans who have driven out three nannies already, and things are getting worse. He needs a very special person to take care of the situation and he knows Andie can handle anything.

When Andie meets the two children she quickly realizes things are much worse than she feared. The place is a mess, the children, Carter and Alice, aren’t your average delinquents, and the creepy old house where they live is being run by the worst housekeeper since Mrs. Danvers. What’s worse, Andie’s fiancé thinks this is all a plan by North to get Andie back, and he may be right. Andie’s dreams have been haunted by North since she arrived at the old house. And that’s not the only haunting.

What follows is a hilarious adventure in exorcism, including a self-doubting parapsychologist, an annoyed medium, her Tarot-card reading mother, an avenging ex-mother-inlaw, and, of course, her jealous fiancé. And just when she thinks things couldn’t get more complicated, North shows up on the doorstep making her wonder if maybe this time things could be different between them.

If Andie can just get rid of all the guests and ghosts, she’s pretty sure she can save the kids, and herself, from the past. But fate might just have another thing in mind…

A very important part of this book seems to be music and on her website Jennifer Crusie shares the soundtrack to the book. There are references to early 90s music and also to music from the early 80s. Andie and North's song was Somebody's Baby by Jackson Browne, which I must confess I didn't recall. Here it is from Youtube.

Currently Reading: Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn

This morning I started reading the latest instalment in the Lady Julia Grey series. I hadn't forgotten how much I like the books, but I had forgotten how amusing they are.

In a way, they are reminding me more and more of the Amelia Peabody mysteries in that they are funny, very sexy (but all the action happens behind closed doors), strong characters, and the lead male character, Nicholas Brisbane is very charismatic.

There was also an obscure connection to the last books I finished which were the first two Adrien English mysteries by Josh Lanyon. They are mysteries featuring a gay bookseller and wannabe mystery writer. The connection - both reference the Shakespeare play Titus Andronicus!

Opening Paragraph:

"I thought there would be camels," I protested. "I thought there would be pink marble palaces and dusty deserts and strings of camels to ride. Instead there is this." I waved a hand toward the motley collection of bullocks, donkeys and one rather bored-looking elephant that had carried us from Darjeeling town. I did not look at the river. We were meant to cross it, but one glance had decided me firmly against it.

Currently Reading: The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by CW Gortner

Catherine de Medici is one of those characters from history who seems to have ended up with a pretty bad reputation. I have definitely seen her portrayed more as one of the bad guys in the fiction I have read. For example, she was the very scary and evil queen in Susan Carroll's excellent Faire Isle novels (I really need to read the last couple of those!)

I am looking forward to seeing what C W Gortner does with her in the course of his book. I thoroughly enjoyed his last book on Juana the Mad, so I have high hopes for this one too.

Opening Line: I am not a sentimental woman.

Currently Reading: An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

Later this week I am planning to share my story about the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon, in conjunction with a review of An Echo in the Bone, the Outlander book that came out last year and I am only just getting to read now!

These books were influential in getting me back to reading, and you don't have to search too hard for other Outlander fans. I even managed to get one of my train friends to read the books, and somewhat to my shame, she has just finished reading this book before me!

As I mentioned, you don't have to look to hard to find other fans - Carolyn Crane has just done a really fun post  titled "Why aren't men like Jamie Fraser?".

Can I say how much I love our cover of this book, especially compared to the lime green number that is gracing the paperback version! In real life it is a gorgeous purply/bluey colour, which is even better because it matches my clothes, my pyjamas, my purse! So much purple! What will I do when it is no longer in fashion!

Currently Reading: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

To Say Nothing of the Dog is one of those books that I have had sitting on my bookshelves for a while, and always looked at and thought that I really want to read that book one day, and yet it still stayed on the shelves. In this case it has been there for more than 5 years.

With a little bit of encouragement from Aarti (we are planning to chat about reading this together) I have finally opened it up, and I have to say that so far I am enjoying it very much. It has the kind of irreverence and wit which I associate with authors like Terry Pratchett and Jasper Fforde, as well as time travel. I was originally recommended this book because I had enjoyed Outlander by Diana Gabaldon so much. So far, the only thing that there seems to be in common really is the time travel aspect, but to me it is very different to that novel.

I suspect that at the end of this novel I am going to be left wondering why on earth I waited anywhere near this long to read it, and how soon can I glom my way through Connie Willis's backlist!

Currently Reading: The Hypnotist by M J Rose

I am doing something a little bit out of the norm for me. I am reading the third book in a series first. Normally I am very much a stickler for reading a series in order, but I am assured that I will not notice it. We'll see I guess. Given that the Publisher's Weekly review says "special agent Lucian Glass of the FBI's Art Crime Team continues to pursue Malachai Samuels of the Phoenix Foundation as well as the list of Memory Tools (deep meditation aids that help people access past-life memories) that Malachai covets." I am not convinced.

So here's the blurb for The Hypnotist:

An FBI agent, tormented by a death he wasn't able to prevent, a crime he's never been able to solve and a love he's never forgotten, discovers that his true conflict resides not in his past, but in a…Past Life.

Haunted by a twenty-year old murder of a beautiful young painter, Lucian Glass keeps his demons at bay through his fascinating work as a Special Agent with the FBI's Art Crime Team. Currently investigating a crazed art collector who has begun destroying prized masterworks, Glass is thrust into a bizarre hostage negotiation that takes him undercover at the Phoenix Foundation—dedicated to the science of past life study—where, in order to maintain his cover, he agrees to submit to the treatment of a hypnotist.

Under hypnosis, Glass travels from ancient Greece to 19th century Persia, while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie capital of world. These journeys will change his very understanding of reality, lead him to question his own sanity and land him at the center of perhaps the most audacious art heist in history: the theft of a 1,500 year old sculpture from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

International bestselling author M. J. Rose's The Hypnotist is her most mesmerizing novel yet. An adventure, a love story, a clash of cultures, a spiritual quest, it is above all a thrilling capstone to her unique Reincarnation novels, The Reincarnationist and The Memorist.

Very early in the novel there are several famous paintings that are mentioned and that form part of what appears to be quite a complex plot. I am starting to see what role this particular thread of the plot will play, but I could be completely mistaken. I thought I might try to find some pictures of those paintings to share.

The first is View of the Sea at Scheveningen by Vincent Van Gogh.

The second is Beach at Pourville by Claude Monet:

The third is Portrait of a Lady by Gustav Klimt

I couldn't find the name of the fourth painting but it is described as pink roses, so I am hoping it is this one

The final painting mentioned is View of St Tropez by Matisse. I couldn't find an image or a mention of that painting so instead I am sharing View of Collioure.

In the book, the View of St Tropez is described in the following way:

The exuberant brushstrokes, which appeared so primitive up close, created a luminous beach scene when viewed from a few feet away. It was brighter and louder than the Monet - there was more joy in this painting, less contemplation.

This short trailer talks about the whole series. The more I think of it, the more I think I probably have started at the beginning of the series!

Currently Reading: The Passage by Justin Cronin

If you could nominate just one book as having been receiving a lot of hype over the last couple of months, then The Passage would have to be one of the books that comes to mind.

I had the book requested when I started hearing about it, and was number 1 on the list. When I picked it up from the library, there was noone after me, so I was thinking that I might even be able to extend it, however when I checked the catalogue the other day I realise that there are now more than 20 people in the queue behind me, so no extensions.

Becky from Page Turners hosts the meme Book Beginnings on Friday, where the idea is that you share the first sentence of your current read. I have been meaning to join in for the last few weeks, but this really seemed liked the perfect time to join in. So here are the opening sentences of The Passage:

Before she became the Girl from Nowhere - the One Who Walked In, the First and Last and Only, who lived a thousand years - she was just a little girl in Iowa, named Amy. Amy Harper Belafonte.

In addition, here is a video of Justin Cronin talking about writing The Passage:

Currently Reading: Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

As soon as I finish one series, it seems that I can't help but start another! In this case, I started the Tomorrow series by John Marsden. Previously the only book I had read by John Marsden was the story book, The Rabbits, which he wrote the story for and Shaun Tan illustrated.

I can't tell you how many times I have been told that I should read this series, and it was always on my 'one day' list. Now I am just over half way through the first book, and I am quite frankly wondering why I hadn't read them before now because it is really, really good.

One of the main reasons for actually picking the book up right now, apart from the fact that it was due back at the library yesterday, is that there is a movie version of this book coming out in August here in Australia.

I know that there are lots of fans of these books both here in Australia, but also elsewhere around the world, so I thought I would share the trailer.

Currently Reading: Shadow of the King by Helen Hollick

I have just started reading Shadow of the King by Helen Hollick, which is the third book in the Pendragon's Banner trilogy - all about Arthur and Gwenhwyfar! I read and enjoyed the first two, and I am looking forward to seeing how it is all going to end in this version of the tale, although I am not sure that I am looking forward to it, if that makes any sense! Maybe I should have said I want to see how it is all going to end.

Recently Helen has announced that all of her covers have been redesigned for her new UK publisher, and I have to say, they are very good, particularly for the Sea Witch series, which is what I am planning to read next from this author!

On the left is the cover of the book I have out from the library, and below are the new covers for both series.

TSS/Currently Reading: Book Pricing or Why I love the Book Depository

One of the truths about being a book lover in Australia is that books here are expensive, so I thought it would be interesting to do a comparison of the price for a specific book. This post is also doubling up as a Currently Reading post, because I did actually start reading this book on Friday. Yes, I am 2% of the way through War and Peace by Tolstoy! I signed up for the Classics Circuit (White Nights on the Neva: Imperial Russian Literature tour)and my post is due on 15 July 2010, although I was very clear when signing up that it was more likely to be a progress post rather than a review as such.

Originally I borrowed the book from the library, but then I realised that there was no way I would be able to get through it and read other books as well, so I decided to buy it.

So my comparison basis for this exercise was that it was the same translator, and I was only looking at the paperback copy of the novel. All the sources are also the online stores, I haven't actually moved from my chair to do this comparison. The cover on the left is the US cover and the one on the right is the UK cover. All prices are in Australian dollars, and were based on the exchange rate the day that I did the comparisons (so may have changed a little since then).

Book Depository UK $17.01 (free postage)
Book Depository US $23.84 (free postage)

Borders Australia (US version) $30.95 (free postage)
Borders Australia (UK version) $23.95 (free postage)
Dymocks (UK Version) $29.95 (plus $6.50 postage)
Angus and Robertson (US Version) $40.95 (plus $6.00 postage)
Amazon.com $16.03 (plus $11.94 postage)


One other thing that probably needs to be taken into consideration is that fact that ordering online means that you can't have that instant gratification. There are still days when I will go to the book store and buy a book, but generally I will either get it from the library or I will order it from overseas.The shipping cost for Amazon was for Standard International Shipping (averages 18-32 days), but there are faster shipping options available but they cost more. In my experience I generally get orders from the UK Book Depository within a week or so of ordering.

The final factor is that often there are books that I see mentioned around blogs that I really want to read, that just never make it into the stores here, so by buying from overseas means that I get access to a lot of those books.

It seems ridiculous really that it costs me significantly more to buy from an Australian bookstore than it does to buy a book from the UK or the US, but that's the way it has consistently proven to be for this Australian book buyer. I would love to be supporting Aussie business, but when the prices are not really even competitive it is hard to do that.

Currently Reading: Mort by Terry Pratchett

I love reading Terry Pratchett books, but over the years I haven't done that regularly enough. That is one of the reasons why I felt the need to start the Terry Pratchett Challenge, which I have then managed to not do any updates on! I have every intention of doing so, I promise!

If this was a Teaser Tuesday post then I would struggle to choose just two lines because there are so many fun ideas that are clamouring to be shared. This is not only in the actual text, but also in the footnotes.

I thought for my Currently Reading post today, I would share just a few of the quotes that I have come across in the first 40 or so pages of this book.

Pratchett's descriptions can by funny, such as this example when he is describing the major town on Discworld:

So let's just say that Ankh-Morpork is as full of life as an old cheese on a hot day, as loud as a curse in a cathedral, as bright as on oil slick, as colourful as a bruise and as full of activity, industry, bustle and sheer exuberant busyness as a dead dog on a termite mound.

but sometimes his language use is poetic and beautiful as well:

Death nodded, and reined in the horse. It stood on the air, the great circular panorama of the Disc glittering below it. Here and there a city was an orange glow; in the warm seas nearer the Rim there was a hint of phosphorescence. In some of the deep valleys the trapped daylight of the Disc, which is slow and slightly heavy was evaporating like silver steam.

But it was outshone by the glow that rose towards the stars from the Rim itself. Vast streamers of light shimmered and glittered across the night. Great golden walls surrounded the world.

"It's beautiful", said Mort softly. "What is it?"

THE SUN IS UNDER THE DISC, said Death.

"Is it like this every night?"

EVERY NIGHT, said Death. NATURE'S LIKE THAT.

"Doesn't anyone know?"

ME. YOU. THE GODS. GOOD, IS IT?

"Gosh!"

Death leaned over the saddle and looked down at the kingdoms of the world.

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, he said, BUT I COULD MURDER A CURRY.

Of the Pratchett characters I have read so far, I have to say that Death is my favourite! This is a Death that gets upset when people kill kittens, who likes a good curry and always speaks in capitals. His endeavours to be somewhat human but never quite getting it right are entertaining, from creating his own personal garden:

Death's garden was big, neat and well-tended. It was also very, very black. The grass was black. The flowers were black. Black apples gleamed among the black leaves of a black apple tree. Even the air looked inky.

After a while Mort thought he could see - no, he couldn't possibly imagine he could see...different colours of black.

That's to say, not simply very dark tones of red and green and whatever, but real shades of black. A whole spectrum of colours, all different, and all - well, black.

to the fact he rides a real horse called Binky:

It is a fact that although the Death of the Discworld is, in his own words, an ANTHROPOMORPHIC PERSONIFICATION, he long ago gave up using the traditional skeletal horses, because of the bother of having to stop all the time to wire bits back on.

and even tries to wink:

Something like a small supernova flared for a moment in the depths of his eyesockets. It dawned on Mort that, with some embarrassment and complete lack of expertise, Death was trying to wink.

Some times this is just the kind of read that I need, so now I am going off to read some more!

Currently Reading: For the King by Catherine Delors

I have been thinking about ways I can share reactions and thoughts about a book without necessarily writing a review, so I am thinking that I might start writing a few "Currently Reading" posts. They will mostly be commentary on things like book trailers, or covers, with the synopsis or random thoughts. Who knows really, could be anything. Don't worry, there still will be some reviews!

For my first post I wanted to share the cover for Catherine Delors upcoming release For the King (coming out on July 8). When I first saw the cover for this book online, I liked it, but it was when I saw the actually cover, that I realised just how gorgeous it is. This is because when you look at the whole cover you can see the clever way that the picture wraps around the spine on the dust jacket.

Catherine Delors just posted on her blog showing the whole dust jacket, so you can see the whole image, and also how the colour on the back of the book reflects the colour of the dress on the front. Click on the link above for a larger version of the picture below.


Kudos to the cover designer of this book!

For a taste of what this book is about, here is the book trailer: