All three novels of my Lizzie Millett Series rely on their covers to introduce a theme or device which carries throughout each book. In the case of PROSPECTS,
Mining Maine for Riches (2020, Maine Authors Publishing), that device is a
photograph of “The Primus”, first gem tourmaline discovered by a pair of college boys on Mt. Mica in Newry, ME in 1821.
Following release of my first novel, The Spinster’s Hope Chest in 2018, I wrote
a short story based on the early history of mineral mining in Maine which appeared in
Bethel Living magazine. Mining has always been an interest of this old rockhound who annoyed his mother by littering his bedroom with stones and seashells. The tradition of collecting mineral specimens in Maine has a long tradition. Jane Perham, author of Maine’s Treasure Chest, Gems and Minerals of Oxford County, read the story. Her words of support which also appear on the cover encouraged me to expand it into the novel.
When the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum first opened in Bethel, “The Primus”
was appropriately displayed in a glass case at the front door. After all, its discovery was
the birth of the state’s mineralogical tradition. I was already in the midst of writing
PROSPECTS and that same gem was an essential part of the storyline, serving as a
magnet to attract miners into Maine around 1900 to get rich. It just had to be on the
cover.
Museum personnel stopped me from taking a photo of the gem which was on
loan to them from the American Natural History Museum in Manhattan where it is part of
the permanent collection. I contacted that museum and negotiated to get a license for
use of an image of the gem. They provided two fantastic professional photographs;
much better than any shot I would have taken of a stone in a glass case.
So successful has been this cover image that some readers have referred to the
novel as “that gem book.”
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