TORONTO - Douglas & McIntyre has designed a new cover for this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning novel "The Sentimentalists."
The publishing house made the move after recently acquiring the paperback rights to the title, written by Johanna Skibsrud, from tiny Nova Scotia outfit Gaspereau Press to help it meet retail demand.
The Gaspereau version of the book, about a daughter's quest to learn about her father's experiences in the Vietnam War, is cream-coloured with a pencil sketch of a soldier by Ontario engraver Wesley Bates.
The cover by Douglas & McIntyre also depicts a Vietnam troop but is in colour and provides a closer view of the soldier's face.
Douglas & McIntyre says its longtime art director, Peter Cocking, designed the new jacket over the weekend after receiving word that a deal with Gaspereau was imminent.
Douglas & McIntyre plans to ship the first 30,000 copies of "The Sentimentalists" on Friday.
Gaspereau says it plans to continue to make its high-quality, hand-made version of the book but at a slower rate than the 1,000 copies it had been previously producing.
Gaspereau had come under fire for refusing outside help in order to fill the flood of requests for Skibsrud's novel, which won the $50,000 Giller Prize last Tuesday.
But this past Monday, the Kentville, N.S. press announced it had sold Canadian paperback rights to Douglas & McIntyre -- a deal that Skibsrud says she's "really pleased" with.
