Daughter of the Regiment: A Cover Story
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| Order Daughter of the Regiment from Christian Book Distributors at: http://bit.ly/1GDs9UC |
"He held up the blue blanket--which was not a blanket at all, but her blue wool cape, adorned with gold buttons and red braid ..."
Lovers
of historical fiction tend to share a fascination with historic costume. We
spend time on Pinterest oohing and aahing over the gorgeous creations housed in
costume collections around the world. Some of us even attend Civil War
reenactments and Jane Austen balls in costumes we’ve made. While we do love our
“women in costume,” I suspect we’ve secretly thankful we aren’t expected to
lace up a corset and step into five petticoats every morning!
A great deal of thought and planning
goes into cover design for any novel, and when a publisher takes extra care
with selection and planning, it makes a writer’s heart sing. Sometimes
publishers have access to theatrical costume warehouses. That gives them a wide
range of options for a cover shoot. In the case of Daughter of the Regiment, FaithWords went the extra mile. They
hired a designer to make a uniform inspired by an authentic Civil War
vivandière costume housed in the National Museum of American History. (Vivandières were women who served the French army during the
Crimean War. Their service inspired Daughters of the Regiment in the American
Civil War.)
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| Vivandière Uniform Division of History of Technology, National Museum of American History |
That’s Maggie Malone on the cover of Daughter of the Regiment. Maggie is a 6-foot-tall Irish immigrant who farms alongside her two brothers
and her uncle. When the Civil War breaks out, she has very little interest in a
conflict “the Americans” should solve. But when Maggie’s two brothers volunteer
with the Irish Brigade, and when one of their names shows up on a list of
wounded soldiers, war becomes personal. Worried about her brother, Maggie
travels to where the Irish Brigade is encamped. Eventually, she begins to think
of the soldiers as “her boys.” As the story unfolds, Maggie grows and changes,
until she realizes that she doesn’t want to leave the regiment. In the end,
Maggie follows in the footsteps of 19th century women like Kady
Brownell of Rhode Island and Annie Etheridge of Michigan.
Historic photographs of women who
served as Daughters of the Regiment show various versions of uniforms. Soldiers
who wrote about regimental“daughters” mention caps decorated with feathers,
bloomers, and all manner of braid. Inspired by the Smithsonian’s vivandiere’s
costume, designer Linda Coulter first sketched the design shown at left. Once FaithWords gave approval, she created this exquisite
uniform of soft blue wool, complete with authentic Civil War era reproduction buttons
and lace. The jacket is fully lined and boned. Maggie Malone would have
been proud to wear it, and I’ve been excited to share it with readers who
attend launch events this spring. If I could wear it, I would … but alas, it’s
a size 0, and I am not.
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning “the
inside story” of this cover shoot. You can see more historic background on my
Pinterest Board, https://www.pinterest.com/stephgwhitson/daughter-of-the-regiment/
