By Jennifer Kavanagh
The letter B is of great importance in the book, not least because it's the name of the protagonist - people keep asking me why he doesn't have a proper name. I'm afraid my answer is that they have to read the book! But the letter itself has some meaning, and illuminated letters play a part, so I was keen to have an illuminated letter B on the cover. When I asked CI if they could do one in-house, they said I'd need to find an image. I had a look for one, then realised that a tailor-made one would be much more powerful. So, I asked my son, who practises calligraphy, if he could do one, and gave him a brief. He was living in Singapore with a heavy work schedule and an eight-hour time difference, and hadn't read the book. The book was on a tight timescale, so it was quite a tense few days as he shopped around for the right inks, emailed different versions back and forth, and managed the right level of resolution from his office printer. But, thanks to CI's flexibility, we got there in the end. It means a lot to have my son's work on the cover of my first novel!
B is not a child of his time. As an outsider, he hides his secrets well. Freedom is all he dreams of. But when it comes at last, it is in the most unexpected way – and at a considerable cost.
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