UK vs US Cover Showdown: Women’s Prize Shortlist
The Women’s Prize for Fiction is always a real highlight in the literary calendar. I discover some of my favourite books of the year through the longlist, nominated authors I love get lots of exposure, and I’m so apprehensive about the winner’s announcement you’d think I was on the shortlist myself. So I thought this year's shortlist would be a fantastic place to start a new series on the blog, looking at book covers—in the UK and across the pond.
Transcendent Kingdom was my winner of the shortlist, and it’s UK cover also happens to be one of my favourite covers of the year. Sorry US edition, you’re lovely, millennial pink and all, but the UK cover is a masterpiece.
The green, the pink, the poppy buds, the sense of depth, and the subtle nod to the basketball court where some of the book’s pivotal moments play out. Add an author quote from the Roxane Gay and you’ve got an undisputed champion.
Winner: UK
Love them or hate them, the infamous ‘blob’ covers seem to be here to stay. I have to admit, I love them. I can’t resist a colourful blobby cover, and I won’t hear any of the cynical takes about them.
For me, the contrast of the faces feels a little too obvious on the UK cover and the colour scheme comes across more subtly on the US cover.
The Vanishing Half explores the grey areas of race, class and identity, and the obscured, out-of-focus feel of the US cover’s illustration captures this perfectly.
Winner: US
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House is the only book on the shortlist I haven’t got around to reading yet, so I’m judging this cover blind.
Although the US cover is beautiful, from what I’ve heard about the book, it gets pretty harrowing, and this cover doesn’t feel dark enough.
The UK cover gives me colour combinations that feel considered rather than trend-led, and the irregular layout of the title really draws me in. The striking slice of gaze we get on the right-hand side seals the deal on this one.
Winner: UK
I love both of these covers. Don’t make me choose!
I just want to keep looking at them. They don’t look like anything else on the shelves right now, and I’m sure it’s a style that publishers will try to emulate.
The rainbow motif feels both whimsical and poignant, mirroring the duality of the book itself. The grain texture of the US cover and the 'contrasting fonts are delicious, but the pastel-hued optimism of the UK cover feels especially resonant.
Winner: UK
This is a tough one. I first bought Unsettled Ground based on its UK cover, so I feel it deserves my loyalty. The background of rotting fruit and flowers subsuming the title is a feast for the eyes, evoking a renaissance painting.
The portrait included in the US cover was an addition I wasn't sure about at first glance, but it' has definitely grown on me. At its core., Unsettled Ground is a book about family ties and secrets, a picture worn away to reveal the tangled roots below.
What splits the two, in the end, is the use of shade and light. The darkness of the UK cover just feels a bit too gothic for what I found an uplifting novel.
Winner: US
Why even create different covers for the UK and US markets?
It feels appropriate that a book as unique as Piranesi should only have one cover.
