Ravenfield Hall: Cover Reveal and a Practical Conversation with Leanna Renee Hieber and Elizabeth Wakou

Ravenfield Hall is a Gothic romance with horror elements by Leanna Renee Hieber. The narrative begins in New York in 1874 and moves to the coast of Southern Maine. The protagonists navigate a haunted house, angry ghosts seeking justice, and a merciless Robber Baron. Agnes, the central figure, can channel spirits.

Hieber and the publisher wanted a cover that communicates period accuracy, Gothic tone, and Agnes's inner life at a glance. Hachette involved Elizabeth Wakou early, sharing draft material so the artist could respond to story details rather than guesswork.

• Chose a bust-length, classical portrait composition to center Agnes and present her as both historical subject and narrative figure.
• Rendered hair and costume with 1870s historical accuracy to anchor the image in its period.
• Broke the stillness of a primarily dark palette with dramatic lighting and warm-versus-cool color contrast to keep the image visually active.
• Added textural devices such as a ripped canvas effect to destabilize the composition and suggest the supernatural unrest in the story.

Hieber says Wakou's cover felt like a direct channeling of Agnes, and that every detail on the cover corresponds to an element or moment in the text. Wakou reports she was drawn to the project partly because the story opens in NYC, a city she has lived in, and because the book's influences—classic Gothic novels such as Rebecca and Wuthering Heights—fit her existing visual language.

Wakou describes the joys of translating written pages into visual form and the main challenge of commissioned work: aligning differing creative visions. She says most collaborators on this project were receptive, which made it easier to exchange ideas and refine the cover. Hieber responded emotionally to early sketches, indicating close alignment between author intent and artist execution.

The finished cover aims to tell readers several concrete things quickly: period setting (1870s), a female protagonist with a supernatural gift, Gothic mood (haunting, atmospheric), and an interplay between stillness and unease. The visual strategies are designed to invite readers while remaining faithful to the book's tone and details.

Takeaway for librarians and booksellers

The cover is deliberately classical and story-driven. If you're selecting or promoting Ravenfield Hall, highlight the historical Gothic frame, the coastal-Maine setting, and the visual fidelity between cover art and narrative. The jacket itself functions as a compact summary of character and mood that supports reader expectations.