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Some Bestselling Author's Bookjackets

  1. Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose (book jacket):
    "Umberto Eco is a world-famous specialist in semiotics (diagnostics-sic), a distinguised historian, philosopher, and aesthetician (loves beautiful things-sic), and a scholar of James Joyce. He teaches at the University of Bologna in Milan.

    The Name of the Rose is Eco's first novel."

  2. Shana Alexander: Nutcracker (book Jacket):
    "Every so often an extraordinary book appears that, by focusing on a notorious act of violence, brillantly and unforgetably, illuminates the dark recesses of the human mind.

    Thomas Thompson's Blood and Money and Shana Alexander's Very Much a Lady are two such bestsellers, books that transcend "true crime." Now, Nutcracker, masterly and breathtakingly, joins their ranks.

    ...Shana Alexander has written her own book and reached new heights of achievement. She evokes the same talent for reportage, probing insight and style displayed in her work for Life, Newsweek, and on "60 Minutes." Making extensive use of her exclusive access to certain materials and sources. Alexander traces the intricate history of this crime from its genesis among the luxury high-rises of Manhattan to the bloody culmination in a dusty Salt Lake City warehouse. She follows the winding four-year police hunt, which began in procedural confusion and was carried out ultimately by smart, devoted, --- and lucky --- detective work. She takes us behind the scenes of the trials, their startling defenses and verdicts, and into the minds of a few people who carried family games too far. Most compelling, she has painted, in pointed, precise brushstrokes, a nightmare sitting for a family portrait.

    Shana Alexander is the author of the bestselling Anyone's Daughter, about Patty Hearst, and Very Much a Lady; a study of the Jean Harris case."

  3. Jean M. Auel: The Clan of the Cave Bear (book jacket)

    "Jean M. Auel, began researching The Clan of the Cave Bear in 1977. In addition to spending many hours in the library studying the Ice Age, she joined a survival class to learn how to construct an ice cave and how it feels to live in one. She learned how to make arrowheads from a man in La Grande, Oregon. Before that, she had worked at temporary and part-time clerical jobs, been a circuit board designer and a technical writer, and earned her M.B.A. Born and raised in Chicago, Mrs. Auel met her husband, Ray, at the age of eighteen and was the mother of five children before she was twenty-five. She now lives with her family in Portland, Oregon, where she is at work on the second novel in the Earth's Children series."

  4. V. W. Andrews: Flowers in the Attic (book jacket):
    "V.C. Andrews was a professional painter before she began writing Flowers in the Attic, her first novel. She has already completed a sequel, Petals on the Wind, and is at work on a third novel. She lives in Virginia with her mother."

  5. M.M. Kaye: Trade Wind (book jacket):
    "M. M. Kaye was born in India and spent much of her childhood and adult life there. She became world famous in 1978 with the publication of her monumental bestseller about India under the British Raj, The Far Pavillions. She was also the author of the bestselling Shadow of the Moon. Mollie Kaye is married to retired Major General Goff Hamilton, and it was during one of his assignments that she was first introduced to Zanzibar, the "Isle of Cloves" and the stting for Trade Winds. She and her husband now live in the English countryside, not far from London."

  6. Michael Crichton: Congo (book jacket):
    "Michael Crichton was graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, worked briefly in medical research, and, afteer the publication of his first novel, The Andromeda Strain, devoted himself increasingly to writing - five novels and two works of non-fiction including Five Patients. He is also a filmmaker - most recently directing the film version of his own novel The Great Train Robbery. He was born in 1942 in Chicago and lives in Los Angeles."

  7. John Gardner: Nobody Lives Forever Gardner's James Bond Series (book jacket):
    "John Gardner is the author of many suspense novels that have long delighted readers on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to his contributions to the James Bond cycle - License Renewed, For Special Services, Icebreaker, and Role of Honor - John Gardner is the author of the widely praised fictional saga of a British espionage family, The Secret Generation. He lives in Oxfordshire, England, where he is at work on his next Bond book."

  8. Ellis Peters: The Holy Thief (book jacket):
    "Ellis Peters has gained worldwide praise for her meticulous re-creations of twelfth-century monastic life; her medieval whodunits are international bestsellers. She is a recipient of the British Crime Writers Association's Silver Dagger Award, as well as the coveted Edgar, bestowed by the Mystery Writers of America. Ellis Peters lives in Shropshire, England."

  9. Ellis Peters: The Santuary Sparrow (book jacket):
    "Ellis Peters is a pseudonym for Edith Pargeter, author of many books under her own name. The recipient of the C. W. A. Silver Dagger Award, she is also well known as a translator of poetry and prose from the Czech. Miss Pargeter lives in Shropshire, England."

  10. Ellis Peters: The Raven in the Foregate: The Twelfth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael:
    "For historical crime writing at its best, few can rival Ellis Peter's series of novels set in medieval England, of which Raven in the Foregate is the twelfth. Recognition for the Brother Cadfael mysteries continues to grow in the United States with each new addition to this superb series.

    Ellis Peters is the nom-de-crime of English novelist Edith Pargeter, author of scores of books under her own name. She is the recipient of the Silver Dagger Award, conferred by the Crime Writers Association in Britain, as well as the coveted Edgar, awarded by the Mystery Writers of America. Miss Pargeter is also well known as a translator of poetry and prose from the Czech and has been awarded the Gold Medal and Ribbon of the Czechoslovak Society for Foreign Relations for her services to Czech literature. The author lives in Scropshire, England."

  11. Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent: The Thirteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael (book jacket):
    The book jacket write-up here is the same as the previous chronicle. The Brother Cadfael series has become a sort of cult classic and is now viewed on Public Television for the BBC series. Edith Pargeter is a prolific author, who has scored in both writing and crossed over into television productions. I personally enjoy both her books and this series.

  12. Masako Togawa: The Lady Killer (book jacket):
    "Masako Togawa was born in Tokyo in 1933. After leaving high school, she worked as a typist, then made her professional debut as a nightclub singer at the age of twenty-three. Between acts, she atarted to write backstage, and at the age of twenty-four published The Master Key, which was awarded the prestigious Edogawa Ranpo Prize. Her next novel The Lady Killer, was a bestseller, and established her as one of the most popular novelists in Japan. Critics have compared her to both Muriel Spark and P.D. James.
    Simon Grove's translation of The Master Key was widely praised. A former officer with the Royal Navy, he has lived in Japan for seventeen years, spending six years with the British Embassy as an interpreter."

  13. Stephen King: (book jacket):
    "Stephen King's first novel, Carrie, might never had been published if his wife Tabitha hadn't rescued the manuscript form the wastebasket.
    But today Stephen King is recognized worldwide as the "modern master of horror" (New York Times, and he has become a publishing phenomenon, one of the most popular storytellers of all time. There are an estimated 40,000,000 copies of his books in print around the world. He has had three books simultaneously on the New York Times hardcover and paperback bestseller lists. Two of his novels, Carrie and The Shining, have already been made into major films, and 1983 sees the movie release of Cujo, the Dead Zone, and his most recent book, Christine.
    Mr. King's other novels include Salem's Lot, The Stand, and Firestarter. He is also the author of Night Shift, a book of short stories; Different Seasons, a collection of four novellas; and Danse Macabre, a nonfiction survey of the horror field, praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer as "one of the best books on American popular culture in the late twentirth century.'
    Stephen King lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife Tabitha (author of the well-received fantasy novel, Small World and, in 1983, of Caretakers) and their three children."

  14. Barbara Chase-Riboud: Sally Hemmings (book jacket):
    "Barbara Chase-Riboud is a sculptor and poet of American and Canadian descent who lives in Paris with her husband, Marc Riboud, and their two sons. She has traveled widely in Asia and Africa and was the first American woman admitted to the People's Republic of China after the revolution. She is a graduate of Yale University, a John Hay Whitney Fellow, and a National Endowment for the Arts recipient. Her earlier book of poetry, From Memphis and Peking, was widely praised, and a second, Love Perfecting is on preparation. This is her first novel."

  15. Thomas Thompson: Serpentine: A True Odyssey of Love and Evil (book jacket):
    "Thomas Thompson is one of America's most admired and honored writers. In a career that has spanned newspapers, a dozen years as a staff writer and editor for Life magazine, and the author of five books, he has won the National Headliners Award for investigative reporting, the national Sigma Delta Chi medallion for distinguished magazine writing. His books include Hearts, Richie, Lost, and Blood and Money which was alandmark best seller. Among its numerous awards were the Texas Institute of Letters prize for the best non-fiction book of the year, and the Edgar Allan Poe Award of the Mystery Writers of America. Mr. Thompson lives in California and is the father of two sons."

I think you can see from these varied book jacket write-ups that authors can come from all walks of life and write in various veins. These are here to give you encouragement, and to offer an example of guidelines regarding book jackets. Also note the writer's awards that are available. Some of these are on the main page table.You are the visitor since February 3, 2001
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