March 9, 2024joynealkidney

What’s on the Cover of What Leora Never Knew?

The very creative Nelly Murariu @PixBeeDesign designed the cover of What Leora Never Knew, as well as the other Leora books. She also designed the interior and formatted the ebook.

Nelly worked with the same three posed photographs of Dale, Danny, and Junior Wilson that are on the cover of Leora’s Letters.

John Busbee actually came up with the title. I’d been trying to lead with “Leora.” Some of you helped me choose the subtitle.

“We must never forget these three brothers.” Marcus Brotherton, New York Times bestselling author – this is in the black ribbon between the Wilson brothers and the red poppies. What a generous encouragement by a well-known author.
The red poppies. Chapter 1 is called “Red Crepe Paper Poppies,” especially since Grandma Leora was a member of the Legion Auxiliary in Guthrie Center. Every year she offered a red crepe paper poppy for a donation which went to a disabled veterans charity. She made sure we each had one when we accompanied her to Violet Hill Cemetery to place flowers on the graves of her three sons and Grandpa Clabe, who died in 1946.  
Dr. John McCrae’s poignant 1915 poem In Flanders Fields is included in Chapter 37. It begins “In Flanders fields the poppies blow/ Between the crosses, row on row. 

Robin Grunder shepherded this book through KDP publication with her own company, Legacy Press Books. She also edited this one.

I’m grateful to those who helped make elements of the handsome cover come together for What Leora Never Knew.

24 comments

  4. The bold red color of the poppies accentuates the three young military men and makes for a visually pleasing cover. The title is a great summation of what the book is about. Thumbs up to all involved! 🙂

    Reply

      • I knew it had to get written, but I still had such brain fog that I hired Robin to help me finish it. In early 2000 I had a shoulder replaced and Covid set in. I didn’t go anywhere but to physical therapy, but as soon as I could type, my head and heart went to all the notes I already had about the Depression Years. That one and Leora’s Early Years were such fun to work on, combining old letters and postcards, Grandma and Mom’s stories, with newspaper articles, and even notes Grandma wrote on the backs of photos to send to her “Navy boys” and others. They are the “bonus Covid” stories! People asked what happened to the brothers lost in the war. I’d done the research during the 1990s when veterans were still living and joining reunion groups. They let me join as well, which is where I located eye witnesses to their crashes and best friends, since that was before the internet was as useful as it is these days.

      • Phew! You were on a writing frenzy! Being a sleuth with a sidekick named Robin certainly produced an engaging chronicle of the lives of your family members. Also-I hope your shoulder is fully functional and pain free now!

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