Dust Jacket for My First Novel

The dust jacket for my novel was illustrated by my sister, Yvonne Baker Hall, an artist who lives in California. Her award-winning paintings have been displayed at galleries in California and in Tokyo, Japan. She paints all subjects, including murals. Her training includes art classes taught by prominent instructors in Alaska, Minnesota, and California. Yvonne is inspired by nature’s beauty, and she tries to capture the beauty on canvas to share with others. Listed in American Artist of Renown, 1981, her work is published in “Art of the American West,” Rockport Publishers, 1999.

Yvonne volunteered to illustrate the jacket for my book. I’m grateful to her for providing such a beautiful painting that depicts a scene in the novel.

Through email and telephone conversations we made decisions on the jacket. I was reminded of our childhood days on Banner Mountain.

Back in those days, Yvonne and I cut out paper dolls from The Sears and Roebuck Catalogue. For hours, we played with the paper dolls on the front porch. We created our own toys at a period when all the other kids we knew did the same.

Now, years later, I’m pleased to announce that my sister illustrated the cover for my first novel. Hopefully, the beauty of the dust jacket will invite the reader to open the book and read the 200-page mainstream novel.

Set in Arkansas in 1983, my book is aimed at a general audience. My teenage grandson calls it a western. It does have an element of “The West.” Guns, horses and stampeding cattle offer adventure in modern times. The story also has an element of romance. I call the novel a family story about a college graduate holding to traditional values as she strives to help her family through a crisis.

by Freeda Baker Nichols