"The Words In My Hand is based on the true story of the love between Dutch maid, Helena Jans and French philosopher, Rene Descartes. It is a story that was hidden at the time and almost entirely lost from history since." It is Guinevere Glasfurd's debut novel. Published by Two Roads Books, an imprint of Hodder & Staughton. Art Direction by Anna Woodbine.

 

The artwork is meant to depict the ink she used, made of beets. The blue is a nod to the Delft china found in Amsterdam and the buildings, eel, bird, and other illustrative elements are pulled from the story. The lettering was meant to look as though someone was learning to write, as Helena was.

Beautiful foil elements were added to the cover design during the production process.

Cover artwork below. The space between the title and the buildings was originally going to hold a typeset shoutline but the author's name was relocated to that area in the final artwork. 

Some earlier illustrative style roughs.

Here are some of the early sketches working out the lettering and background elements.

Original sketch below.