What does a memoir that documents the painful loss of a family member and J. Crew’s summer catalog have in common? Nothing, which is why memoirist Robin Romm wrote this piece in Slate about their eerily similar aesthetic.

The popsicle on the cover of her book was a symbol of her mother’s declining health from cancer. As she put it, “The popsicle was one of the last foods my mother could eat. By the end of her life, and by the end of the book, she couldn’t hold them. Her hands shook, so they would fall to the floor and break. The three red popsicles, going from whole to broken against a dreamy blue backdrop, signify the breaking down of childhood as well as decline from illness and, ultimately, death.”

Thus, you can imagine the surprise at seeing a similar image on a catalog.

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