If you’re a regular reader of historical fiction, chances are you own at least a few books with images on their jackets of female-coded figures whose faces are obscured in some way. Book covers presumably depicting their women characters looking away, walking away, viewed from below the neck, or featured in silhouette has become a persistent phenomenon that shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.
A 2019 article by Ann Foster for Book Riot pinpointed a trend of “women looking away” covers specifically in World War II fiction, starting with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society (2008) by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows and continuing from there. Foster also mentioned Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend (published in English translation in 2012), which, while not WWII-era, is significant enough to have contributed to the pattern overall. In the years since the publication of that article, we’ve featured many books on BookBrowse that reflect this pattern, in both WWII fiction and historical fiction generally—and more broadly, extending into literary fiction and other genres. Examples include Alka Joshi’s The Henna Artist (2020), The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel (2021), Laura Spence-Ash’s Beyond That, the Sea (2023), and Nikesha Elise Williams’ The Seven Daughters of Dupree (2026).
At this stage, as one participant pointed out in a Reddit discussion, this genre of book cover images is more of a widespread standard than a “trend,” even if it encapsulates many smaller trends.
Some readers enjoy this feature that often appears with woman-centric fiction, as it leaves a character’s physical traits up to interpretation, providing space to imagine that aspect of the story. Others find it annoyingly clichéd, or even creepy, as some images could give the impression of the viewer spying on or following the person in the picture. In many historical cover images, the focus appears to be on the clothes more than the character herself, which may suggest that what’s being marketed is a fantasy of living a particular lifestyle in a certain time and place, similar to how costumes in period dramas are often a labored-over detail and become the most discussed visual aspect of a show or movie.
While creating a suggestion of anonymity seems like a convincing reason to portray someone with their face obscured on a book cover, it’s interesting to note that this isn’t limited to fiction about entirely made-up characters or everywomen. In fact, it’s become common with novels featuring specific historical figures, too, like Stephanie Dray’s Becoming Madam Secretary (2024, about workers’ rights advocate and Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins), or Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray’s A Pair of Aces (2026, based on the lives of Eunice Carter and Polly Adler).
There is a certain muted, realistic look to typical examples of historical fiction cover art, a style evocative of an old photo that’s been colorized, and it could be partly this stock aesthetic that some readers are tired of and annoyed by, especially as it exists ad nauseum within the extensive subgenre of World War II fiction. But many unique and creative examples of faceless woman and femme cover art can be found in recent literature, both contemporary and historical, such as for Anna North’s Outlawed (2022), Margaret Verble’s Stealing (2023), Yasmin Zaher’s The Coin (2024), and This Here Is Love (2025) by Princess Joy L. Perry. And even with some more standard jacket images, interesting choices are being made. For example, A Pair of Aces plays with angle and perspective, and on the cover of Stephanie Dray’s earlier novel The Women of Chateau Lafayette (2021), the featured figure’s face actually appears to be turned towards the viewer, but is blotted out by a patch of light.
What becomes clearer than anything in examining this phenomenon is that there are so many different ways to depict human faces and bodies (or their absence), to gesture to or invite the viewer into a human experience through visual art, and many stunning examples of this appear on today’s book covers. “Women looking away” jacket images are not just continuing but building on and beyond themselves. So whatever your feelings about the latest woman-focused WWII historical novel and its particular cover design, there will be plenty more to look at.
