The Year that Follows

Every time I see a current ad for Westin hotels (above) I think of 9/11. I assume estin would rather I thought of one of their hotels (like the delightful Westin Maui in Ka'anapali). But the stock photo the ad uses of a boy running through beach grass is almost identical to the front cover of Scott Lasser's 9/11 novel, The Year that Follows. The running boy in beach grass reminds me of this spring's Beachgate, where a similar shot of kids on an English beach was used to promote Alberta (below). There's something irresistible about blond kids running on a beach to advertisers and branders!

I recommended the Lasser book in September as a 9/11 read for my Gazette newspaper book picks:

When a bond trader dies in the 9/11 attacks, his family must deal with the consequences in "the year that follows". His sister and father struggle with their grief and their relationship, but also with a mystery left behind: the search for an orphaned infant son. A moving novel of grief and family ties.

The Year that Follows is a real tear-jerker, so seeing the same photo used for an ad for vacations is jarring. It isn't uncommon for different books to share the same cover however. There are blogs that feature copycat covers, including She Reads and Reads, which pointed to a recent one involving Penelope Lively's novel, Consequences (below). Other sites are here and here. Chip Kidd is the king of book cover design - read about him and other designers here.