Today I am taking part in a cover reveal for Alison Davis' book "Hanging by the Family Tree: Tobias' Story"
This story is the companion novel for Alison Davis' first book "Whispers on the Wind: Ari's Story" which can be purchased on Lulu.com. You can read my cover reveal for this story by clicking here.
"Hanging from the Family Tree" will be available for purchase soon.
The Reveal:
Synopsis:
Hanging from the Family Tree: Tobias’ Story, is a Young Adult fiction novel, based in a fictional English coastal town.
Hidden letters from 1812, the British Regency, tell the story of Alexander Ventus, member of a very rich and influential local family. Besotted with a local women, Elizabeth, who is deemed beneath him, he is forced into a marriage with another woman. Distraught she throws herself from a cliff. Followed years later by Alexander, burdened by his guilt.
Alexander Ventus is Tobias’ great, great, grandfather, and there is an alarming likeness to their lives. Tobias’ Story tells of his struggle to find his place in his family and to discover what it truly means to be a Ventus.
Excerpt:
I’d found the letters just when I needed them, but when I least expected them. The scrawled words that changed everything. The faded ink which pushed me closer to the edge. The echoes and ghosts of the past which haunted my summer, my home and my mind. Then I found her. My Her. And the past began to replay itself. In life you get one chance to write your story, it’s not always perfect and it doesn’t always have a happy ending. This is mine...
Tobias’ Story
The Seed.
I sat staring at the dark polished wood of the desk in front of me, the virgin white paper with small black printed letters, which both promised me hope and sealed my fate, now crumpled and torn. I reached out to smooth it flat.
Dear Mr Ventus,
We are writing to inform you that your application has been accepted...
That was all that was left on the torn scrap my father had ripped from my hand. His thundering voice echoed over and over through my head. He was angry a lot of the time, indignant, pompous, and bitter. Charles Henry Ventus the Second. Six foot of broad shouldered, smoldering resentment. His hair was greying and thinning. He hardly resembled the strapping, muscular young man from all the portraits, and photographs- he even smiled in those. A facial expression that had scarce graced his face in around thirty years, or these halls in thirteen. Not since when aged eight, my father had told me off for running around the halls, and laughing too loudly outside his study. He had roared at me so loudly and scared me so much that I had cried myself to sleep for two weeks, and tiptoed everywhere for at least two months.
Business was everything to him, the paperwork on my desk was testament to that. He had given me the written specifications for part of a holiday complex he wanted to open. He wanted to draw young tourists in, for surf, for group holidays. The surfing tourist industry near here was fairly big, but there was nowhere for nights out, no trendy night scene. Not that one would do well here, the town was traditional, community based. If father ever went into town he would know that. Instead he just sat up here in his house, his castle, behind a desk, on a phone or out in a plane, a helicopter, meetings after meetings. His schedule was his bible.
My Review of the cover:
One of the things I really love about the cover is that it was made to fit nicely with the cover of the first book, "Ari's Story". It is a wonderful idea for the companion novels. I also like how the two covers are made in the same style. The hand written font is perfect for these novels and says a lot about the novel, being that the novels are focused around sets of letters. Making the title "Hanging from the Family Tree" into the style of a family tree was a wonderful idea.
I also think that the placement of the font is well done. The lighting on the photograph is wonderful and I the back ground image of the stone wall is a nice touch. I'm guessing that the stone wall is to signify being down in the cellar.
Overall I really love the cover and I am looking forward to reading Tobias' story as I really loved reading Ari's.
If you have not yet read the Alison Davis' books I highly recommend that you do.
About the Author:
Alison has been writing from an early age, stories, poems, novels, prose. After a 3 year sabbatical from writing she returned to her passion to write Whispers on the Wind: Ari's story. Her first novel, Whispers on the Wind: Ari's Story, was published in August 2012 on Lulu.com. Hanging from the Family Tree: Tobias' Story, a companion/sequel to Whispers on the Wind, is to be published in November 2012
Links:
Cover Art- Copyright © 2012 Christopher Vincent
Story/excerpt/synopsis/characters etc © Alison Davis
