Cynthia Harrod-Eagles on the artwork of ANNA
Anna by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles is one of the books Piatkus Entice picked for their December 12 Days of Romance promotion! It’s an enthralling tale of love and war, romance and adventure. A few days after giving Cynthia the news, the Entice team was delighted to find a piece of mail from America with a beautiful postcard inside from Cynthia. A very special postcard with a very special story . . .
When Readers Digest decided to do Anna as a condensed book, I was invited to Pleasantville, (isn’t that the perfect name for Readers Digest HQ?) their headquarters in NY state, for a visit before publication day.
We were collected from our Manhattan hotel by a chauffeured limo and driven to Pleasantville. It was like a vast, green lawn, kept to English country house standards, and dotted with ancient trees. Set about it were a number of beautiful 18th Century houses, mostly built of wood, in which all the Headquarters activities take place. We were taken first to the hospitality house, a mansion furnished with 18th century originals, furniture, carpets, clocks, china, wonderful fireplaces and chandeliers. There are bedrooms here for guests to stay but sadly we were only on a day trip. However we were met by various executives in the gorgeous drawing-room for drinks and chat, then taken through to the dining-room (shining mahogany table that seated 20) for an elegant luncheon. Afterwards we were given a guided tour and saw various offices and staff amenities (eg wonderful restaurant and a fully-equipped gym). The most amazing thing was that the offices and corridors were hung with original paintings by great masters like Degas, Renoir, Breugel, Kandinsky and so on – worth a fortune but just hanging there, where everyone passed back and forth, with no apparent security. They must be happy employees to be so trusted!
They commissioned an artist to paint several oils to be used as illustrations in their edition of Anna. They were all very lovely, but they decided the Troika picture was so gorgeous they would use it as the illustration for their worldwide corporate Christmas card for that year! On this occasion I was shown the original oils. Being a horselover, I asked if I could buy the Troika picture, but they said they were not for sale – alas.
Imagine having paintings of your book hung next to a Degas! Or sent nationwide! See below for the beautiful picture and be sure to check out Entice’s 12 Days of Romance!
