Sunday, May 10, 2009

No Darkness for Love


No Darkness for Love (#2 Bantam, second book) was published in January 1974. Again, Francis Marshall created 2 different covers for this book. The Arrow (UK, first book) edition has a couple sitting in a restaurant, while the Bantam edition has the couple standing in an artist's garret, with a painting of the heroine on the canvas, suggesting that the hero is a painter! The last photo is from BC's website and used for the Pink novel Money or Love #72.
http://barbaracartlandbooksandcoverart.blogspot.com/search?q=money+or+love

Francis Marshall was a fashion illustrator and I've always loved the detail to the heroines' dresses. The bustle in the second book is beautiful and he shows all of her accessories: an umbrella and bonnet. I enjoyed these book covers especially since the dress in the mid-1970's was less than elegant! The 1980's saw the return of the country "GunneSax" look and prairie styles which may have been a reaction to the groovy, funky clothes of the 1970's. The strength of having someone like Marshall create illustrations is that he did many for magazines and newspapers in England during the 1930's and 1940's and remembers the beauty of the earlier dress. There isn't much information available about him, but the Victoria and Albert museum has some of his illustrations and notes archived.

The plot of this book is about a girl named Atalanta, who must choose between her cousin, Viscount Cottesford, or an impressionist painter named Paul!

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