Can someone explain the book cover to me?

[James (JD)]

The cover doesn't feature Dr. Frederick Cook or an image of the North Pole. It has a young woman in late-19th-century garb.

Is this meant to be Amelia Stead or Kristine Sumner? For me, I'm hoping it's the latter. I was really hoping that Johnston would have Devlin choose her over exploration, atoning for for his father's mistakes with this move.

[Ted]

I think it is an image of a 19th-century woman–as you suggested–in a wistful pose tinted in cyan. She seems waiting for someone, perhaps away in the dangerous north? I don't think editors worry too much about how covers reflect a book's plot or characters but rather about how well it will sell.

Thus this one seems to focus on an emotional pull rather than icons of northern travel at the time in which the book is set. Also the cropping of this image heightens tension and includes part of a window, perhaps eluding to the physical separation she may be feeling melancholy about.

[Patrick]

It's aunt Daphne.