Lorrie Moore is one of my favourite living writers, and it's been too long since she last had a book out (not counting her
Collected Stories which, annoyingly, I had all but three of in their seperate editions). Now, finally, her
A Gate at the Stairs is out, and I got my copy in the post last night.
I ordered the US edition, rather than the slightly cheaper and easier-to-get UK edition. The reason is purely for the cover. The US Knopf edition, designed by the great
Barbara de Wilde, looks like this:
For a book set in the wake of the September 11 attacks, this bleak and fiery image, empty of people, a wait for a plane that will never arrive, is just perfect (and suits the hard, dark edges of Moore's comedy).
On the other hand, the UK Faber & Faber edition, designer unknown, looks like this:
It's a bit too soft and comforting-looking, to my mind.
Incidentally, the US cover image, a photo by
Kamil Vojnar was also used on the cover of issue 93 of
Granta magazine.
