#endpapers

Endpaper. 1886.

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JOMP Book Photo Challenge

It’s hard not to feel a little emotional sharing these endpapers for the hardcover edition of WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON with you. We worked so hard to make this entire book feel like a time capsule from the 1910s, and I think we really might have pulled it off. Those of you who have seen or received the physical ARC might recognize bits of these images as graphical elements used throughout the book; they were hand rendered in pen and ink, then colored digitally in a treatment meant to evoke a historical age not quite so bygone as we might think.

When I traveled to Red Hook, Brooklyn last year to gather reference photos, I felt the weight of history press against my chest standing out there across from the Statue of Liberty, the once packed pier reduced to just a few pilings where only the floating Waterfront Museum now makes port for its seasonal run. It’s the spot Benny retreats to after work every night at the beginning of the novel, drawn to the water by a longing for distant shores and the promises of a statue that has “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” bolted to the pedestal. It felt fitting to honor this place and this moment by making it the first image you see upon opening the book.

For the rear endpaper, I opted for a side-by-side view of past and present Coney Island because this book is, in part, a tribute to everything Coney Island has represented over the last hundred+ years: a haven for the marginalized, an escape from labor/industry, a place where the conservative social norms that controlled everything from gender expression to who you were allowed to love could be left at the park gates. Coney Island has been through a lot since 1911, but it has managed to retain its beautifully diverse community — one I hope this book may help protect.

And as I did with the Red White and Royal Blue rear endpapers, I included Benny & Río’s kiss as a little treat to discover when you lift the dust jacket flap. :)

Endless thanks again to Erewhon Books and Kensington Publishing for the freedom to write and illustrate the book of my dreams. I can’t wait to hold the complete package in my hands — and dissolve into happy tears over it.