The story behind a book cover. And, in many ways, the story behind ATTIK.

My publishing career started at Hodder & Stoughton more than 20 years ago, and I had no idea then how many threads from those early days would weave their way through my life.

It's where I met some of my closest friends. Where I crossed paths with people I still work with today. Where I met my Kiwi husband. And where I shared an office with a brilliant Marketing Manager, Hannah Richell.

Hannah had the window seat because she was more senior. I faced the door, which meant I got to see her boyfriend Matt's smile and laid-back walk as he arrived to pick her up.

They moved to Sydney. Life moved on. We kept in touch. When we travelled through Australia on our way to New Zealand, we'd see them. Hannah and I with babies and buggies while the boys sometimes worked together.

So many of my memories of Matt live there. Sydney. Bronte. Golden light. Books. Him arriving home swinging beers. Their cottage. The take away menu on the fridge. Hannah and Matt crossing the road hand in hand. Their boy sleeping at the top of the stairs. My girl having her first ever food in their kitchen.

And then Matt died.

Years later, I was given an early peek at the manuscript that would become An Ocean & A Day.

I was going through a difficult creative period myself. Work had become too much. Boundaries had disappeared and somewhere along the way I'd lost sight of the creatiive work I loved.

I read Hannah's book.

Then one weekend, walking through a wheat field I saw swallows diving and skimming the crops while thinking about the book. Swallows have huge spiritual significance for me but I had never seen them in real life before that day. Hannah had also chosen a swallow as the logo for The Richell Prize so it felt strangely significant.

It stirred something in me. And I followed a golden thread.

There was no brief and I wasn’t asked to design anything. I simply started thinking about what the cover might be.

I went home and started creating.

The ocean. The sand Hannah found in Matt's hand. Hope rising. Illumination. Gold. And Matt, for me, as the swallow.

I imagined standing in their Sydney home and wondered what book cover might feel at home on Matt’s reading chair.

Then I sent the ideas to my friend and former Hodder colleague Emma (Hannah’s publicist). She told me they wouldn't be discussing covers for months yet.

So I forgot about them.

Fast forward to Christmas 2025.

I was back in Sydney, up early one morning running to Bronte. I stopped for a coffee looking at the ocean, thinking about Matt, and sent Hannah some photographs from the coastal path.

Later that same trip, a message arrived.

They wanted to use my cover.

I hadn't even known the designs had been shared ❤︎⁠

There are projects I am proud of because they're good pieces of work.

And then there are projects that somehow hold a little piece of your life inside them.

This is one of those.

And looking back, this project helped me understand something that has become fundamental to ATTIK: We believe living is part of the creative process.

The friendships. The music. The books. The travel. The joy. The difficult bits. The unexpected moments out in nature.

We bring all of it with us.

And sometimes, if we're lucky, all those threads come together and make something that means far more than the work itself.

And I couldn't be prouder of this one.

An Ocean & A Day by Hannah Richell.

Cover design by Antonia Byrne