Alias Grace

Freelance designer Andy Vella designed the cover for Margaret Atwood’s nomination for the Booker prize. The earth-coloured cover depicts an enlarged face of a young woman, obviously meant as the young Grace herself. She was convicted of the cold-blooded murder of her employer and his housekeeper/ mistress in the 1800s, but pleaded innocent. When you look at the cover, you can’t avoid her eyes. But she’s certainly avoiding yours. Sign of a guilty conscience if you ask me. Very subtle Vella, very subtle. Published by Bloomsbury, priced 16.99.