Enhance cover for novel re 'love and corruption Italian style'

Angela Montgomery

I am an experienced translator and have lived in London, Milan and New York. I am publishing my first novel thanks to a grant from the Arts Council of England on a POD basis.

I lived in Italy for 17 years and that experience left me with a story I have to tell, about a darker, corrupt side of Italy that is not the 'Under the Tuscan Sun' kind of view.
The story: In the Milan of the early 1990s awash with corruption scandals, a young architect’s career is maneuvered into murky associations, and Marsya, an English actress working in Italy as a teacher is sucked into the entourage of a corrupt entrepreneur and his manipulative political movement. Through their personal battles and relationship, Marco, the architect, learns to heed his emotions, and Marsya learns to use her mind to make decisions for more life rather than destruction.

I have developed a basic design concept for the cover SEE FILE ATTACHED, using a photo I took in Milan of a location mentioned in the novel. SEE ATTACHED PHOTO. I have used red, white and green as they are the colors of the Italian flag.
I need your expertise and design savvy to perfect this into a cover that will leap off the shelf.

This book will appeal to women as it is a love story, and it has the exotic appeal of the Italian setting. However, it is not simply a 'romance': it deals with wider issues of corruption and taking responsibility for the choices we make, and as such should appeal to a much wider audience.

My aim is to team up with you to perfect my concept using the picture of a precise location in Milan into a cover that is print ready and will have instant appeal, that is simple and chic, and that conveys the idea of Italy (Milan), of passion and of intrigue.
I would like to keep the colors red, white and green as they are the colors of the Italian flag. Moreover, red suggests passion and green suggests corruption. I am attaching a full synopsis of the book so you can know the details of the story.

The artwork MUST conform to the technical specifications of the publisher which I have also attached. It must be TWO images, the front cover and back cover, in JPEG. SEE GUIDELINES ATTACHED. SEE TEXT FOR BACK COVER ATTACHED. SEE AUTHOR PHOTO ATTACHED.