Muristek
Well-dressed and distressed: why sad young women are the latest book cover trend
Their lives are tough. Their clothes are stylish. Their faces are hidden. The cover girls of today’s book have a lot in common – but are they here to stay?
Draped over an armchair lies a woman in a puffy yellow frock. Head hanging and face shielded by forlorn, folded arms, she is a pastel portrait of misery. After all, she is on the Australian cover of Meg Mason’s 2020 novel Sorrow and Bliss.
Mason’s book was a huge hit around the world. Now, a catalogue of well-dressed and apparently distressed, faceless women are appearing on covers. Among them is Genevieve Novak’s debut No Hard Feelings, to be published in Australia in March this year. The cover features a woman flopped atop a bed, legs bent and arms sprawled to hide her face. The title is large, and followed by a teaser: “Hungover, underpaid and overwhelmed.”
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