Covers: One of our Thursdays is Missing | 24th February 2011, 19:22

One of our Thursdays is missing is the sixth novel in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde, and I'm about halfway through reading it. The UK edition has just been released but the US publication date is still a couple of weeks away. Above are the two covers, on the right is the UK cover - very similar in style to the first five covers in the series (and the Nursery Crime covers, although the paperback for TN5 had a different design). On the left is the US cover, which as a concept I really like, but which is a complete departure from the earlier US covers in the series. My immediate thought here was that Fforde has changed publisher in the US, but a quick look at Amazon proved this wrong - 'Viking Adult' is still listed. I'm not sure why they've decided to go down this different route then - they had clearly thought the previous calligraphic title, almost cartoony illustration and increasingly bold author name worked for the first five books. On the other hand the UK cover, published by Hodder, continues the style of the title font, and the only change to the author name is to drop it to the bottom. The image even continues a theme which I'd not noticed before, which is that each depicts a motor vehicle from the story. I'm not sure if the scene depicted is from the narrative - if so I've not got that far yet, whereas I'm pretty sure the picture on the US cover is not intended to depict what happens in the story. As a metaphor though, the US cover is perfect - the fictional Thursday Next falling from her novel into the real world. I love the way the designer has fitted the often obtrusive 'New York Times best-selling author' text into the picture, although I wonder if having the title of the previous book might confuse shoppers. I for one didn't realise at first that the text on the book spines was intended to run together. My criticisms of the US cover however fall into three points. First is my old bugbear, the words 'A Novel'. I've recently discussed this with some people in the US book world and been told this is because the novel is a relatively recent phenomenon in the US and this is needed to distinguish from non-fiction and to aid booksellers in correctly placing their wares. But why does it need a full-stop? And why is it in that awful font? Second is the fact that it doesn't specify clearly that it is a Thursday Next novel and the sixth book in the series. Maybe this isn't important? I certainly find that I can read it with only a sketchy memory of what happened in the earlier novels but am not sure how someone who had no knowledge would cope with the complicated meta-story. Finally, and most importantly, is that the construction of the cover looks like a bad photoshop. It looks like five components stuck together with no attempt to make them look like a whole - the title and background, author name, 'A Novel' text, books photo and a cut-out of a 1950s drawing of a woman. I just which it felt more continuous. My only issue with the UK cover though is the letters in the foreground that the taxi has driven into. At first glance it seems they are the letters of the author's name, but then there's that 'Y' on the far right. I've no idea what it's meant to have said, and that irritates me. In conclusion then, although I like the concept of the US cover, it's too basic and shoddy looking, and so I have to give my preference to the UK cover, which continues the gorgeous set on my shelf.

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