I Don't Know Elena Ferrante

The most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly asked this question:


Reading the article, I learned there is a pseudonymous writer named Elena Ferrante who has published three novels in Italian. They've been translated into English (and other languages) and are increasingly popular with us women folk. Obviously, or she wouldn't be the subject of this article.

But the thing that caught my eye about the story -- aside from the lovely Italianate serif display type -- was how terrible the book covers are:


They look like old BBC dramas as sold on VHS tape by WGBH in 1987. And what's with the photos of models with their backs turned to the camera? Leaving the faces up to the viewer's imagination isn't a bad idea, but when you run that idea out to three covers it starts to seem like the designer has a complex.