I’ve been working on this book for five years, gone through drafts and beta readers and research and “killing my darlings,” and you’d think that would be enough. But I think any author will tell you that nothing makes it real like seeing the cover!
The basic concept was mine. I wanted an image of St. George in honor of the starring town of Svätý Jur (St. George in Slovak), but I wanted him spearing not a dragon but a heart—namely, mine. And in the background I wanted the SNP Bridge, which I like to think of as the Eiffel Tower of Bratislava, at least of its iconic status if not quite the same level of architectural distinction. Strictly speaking, the title doesn’t refer to this bridge, but I must say it’s pretty handy that Bratislava boasts such a distinctive bridge to make for a great visual tie-in!
However, my skill set definitely does not extend to the execution of visual design, so I found two great artists to make the dream a reality.
The first is David Soboň, a Slovak artist I found through the Asociácia Ilustrátorov or Association of Illustrators, a marketplace for Slovak artists of all kinds. Take a look—they’re doing amazing work, and it really was a problem of an embarrassment of riches. David was great to work with; he took my vague and underspecified notions and through a lot of give-and-take we came up with the fantastic, fantastical, and colorful St. George that graces the cover. Here’s an up-close look at the final result.
I love the subtle textured shading he worked in, as well as the pieced-together, almost quiltlike quality of the component parts.
My first specs instructed David to add the bridge in the background, but the more we worked on it, the more it became clear to me that a bridge in the same style would detract from George and bridge alike. In addition, I realized that the story itself is about clashes and contrasts—most obviously between my American self and the Slovakia I was discovering—but also between versions of Slovakia: Hungarian hinterland and modern sovereign state, village-traditional and communist-occupied and democratic-experimental. The cover would hint at these sets of contrasts better if the bridge was left in all its metallic socialist glory.
Enter then Bogdan Matei, the designer who also did the cover for Katie Langston’s Sealed (also published by Thornbush Press in April 2021!). He’s Bulgarian and therefore had an advantage over some Western designers I considered in grasping the aesthetic I was after. He figured out how to extract the bridge from a photo and set it in opposition to the George. He also chose the vivid red background (a nod to love and the Soviets alike) and the funky font. I think the final result is brilliant!
I Am a Brave Bridge: An American Girl’s Hilarious and Heartbreaking Year in the Fledgling Republic of Slovakia officially comes out on April 23. Why? Because it’s St. George’s Day!
Click on the cover below to order your copy from Amazon!
