Opening lines are important. Some stick in the mind longer than others and some will mean that short moment in which a reader decides to read on (that all important ‘hook’) … or not. Here are a few of mine.
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Daphne du Maurier: Rebecca
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must want for a wife.” Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina
“It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.” Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar
“It was the day my grandmother exploded.” Iain Banks: The Crow Road
“124 was spiteful.” Toni Morrison: Beloved
“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were very normal, thank you very much.” J.K.Rowling: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
What are yours and why?
her series the Legend of Eli Moonpress and read the Spirit Thief. It was a great read and her debut novel and she delivers it all through her main character, a cheeky thief called… Eli Moonpress. I was captivated from the start by his antics, it’s an honest to good read about someone who does naughty things but with great finesse and humour. I’ll definitely be reading more of this series. Rachel is writing another series, an urban fantasy about misfit dragons which sounds like fun too…
