Our Favourite First Lines

"It was the day my grandmother exploded." The Crow Road by Iain Banks

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

 "The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there."  The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins." Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." 1984 by George Orwell

"Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo." A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" Rebecca by Daphne De Maurier

"The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home."  The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham

"I am standing on a corner in Monterey, waiting for the bus to come in, and all of the muscles of my will are holding my terror to face the moment I most desire. " By Grand Central Station, I sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart

"The smuggler held the bullet between his thumb and forefinger, studying it in the weak light of the store room. He smiled sourly. 'Just imagine,' he said, 'Imagine what this feels like, going through your head.'" Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding

"Even the woods are burning" - Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve

"In The Beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth,

And darkness was upon the face of the deep; this was due to a malfunction at Lots Road Power Station.

And God said, Let there be light; and there was light but Eastern Electricity Board said He would have to wait until Thursday to be connected.

And God saw the light and it was good; He saw the quarterly bill and that was not good." - The Bible: The Old Testament According to Spike Milligan (Ch.1 The Creation According to The Trade Unions)

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured." - Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts