“Was it a code?”

“The poem about cloth insinuated its way into my work with the quilt. Cresses green culled beneath a stone,/And given to a woman in secret./The shank of the deer in the head of the herring,/And in the slender tail of the speckled salmon. Was it a code? I knew about watercress and how it grew in cold clean water. How it could refresh water with its filtering root system. Did a secret reside in the loden green leaves, the small elegant scraps of velvet?”

I’m delighted to share the final cover for my novella, Patrin, to be published by Mother Tongue Publishing in September. The photograph was taken by Diana Hayes and the cover designer is Setareh Ashrafologhalai (who is also designing the pages as well). There was a simpler version of this in the earlier stages of the book’s production but it was felt that it didn’t bring together enough of the book’s threads. So Setareh revisited her earlier designs and came up with this. I think the spine and end papers will be burgundy, to echo the colour of the title. You can see the patrin itself, in the triangle immediately above the left corner of the title block. (Patrin or pateran: a handful of leaves tied to a tree or thrown on the ground, by Roma people, to indicate their course.) You will be able to order the book directly from Mother Tongue closer to the time and of course your own local bookstore will either stock it or be able to order it for you. I can’t wait to hold it in my hands.