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The opening line of a novel should pull you in, and there a lot of books out there that do exactly that. Here are 22 powerful opening lines that we love. Do you recognize any of them?
- It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
- We slept in what had once been the gymnasium.
- It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
- Prince Raoden of Arelon awoke early that morning, completely unaware that he had been damned for all eternity.
- It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
- Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can’t be sure.
- If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
- After a year of slavery in the Salt Mines of Endovier, Calaena Sardothiem was accustomed to being escorted everywhere in shackles and at sword-point.
- Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.
- Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature.
- This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.
- There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.
- It was a pleasure to burn.
- The funny thing about facing imminent death is that it really snaps everything else into perspective.
- It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.
- You better not never tell nobody but God.
- Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I’ve come to learn, is women.
- Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
- In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
- All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
- When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.
- The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.
And here are the answers!
- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
- Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
- George Orwell, 1984
- Brandon Sanderson, Elantris
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
- Albert Camus, The Stranger
- J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
- Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass
- Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
- Anita Brookner, The Debut
- William Goldman, The Princess Bride
- C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
- James Patterson, The Angel Experiment
- Roald Dahl, Matilda
- Alice Walker, The Color Purple
- Charles Johnson, Middle Passage
- J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
- Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
- Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
- J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- V. S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River
What powerful opening lines from novels do you love? Let us know in the comments below!
Happy Reading!
My favourite, without a doubt, is No. 5: Dickens A Tale of Two Cities, as it is timeless, and so applicable to today’s scene (wherever you live…) Thank you.
Great list, Mine would be
I’d never given much thought to how I would die. But dying in the place of someone I love seems a good way to go. From Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
3rd May. Bistritz.- Left Munich at 8:35pm on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 4:46, but the train was an hour late. From Dracula by Bram Stoker.
When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. From To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
These are the opening lines to three of my all time favourite books
In your list it should be J K Rowling and the Philosophers Stone (not sorcerers stone)
Just call me Ishmael
Hi.
They are the same book. The book is named “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in the US market.
Last night I dreamed of Manderly again.? Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.
Great list! Thanks! #12, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is one of my most favorite books in the world!
I only got a little less than half of the 22 and was ashamed that I didn’t get more as I am an avid reader and had read nearly all of them. It is very true that you must hook your reader immediately if you want them to hear all of what you have to say and these writers do that very well. Thanks for the memory jog.
8. ‘After a year of slavery in the Salt Mines of Endovier, Calaena Sardothiem was accustomed to being escorted everywhere in shackles and at sword-point.’
Pretty sure that’s not _David Copperfield_, otherwise I’d have enjoyed it much more. I think 8 and 9 got switched?
Good catch! I fixed it.
Having the reference to DAVID COPPERFIELD as #7 and then NOT have DAVID COPPERFIELD next, well, it might have worked better to have DAVID COPPERFIELD first, and have then the Salinger follow.
You might want to go back and catch the first initials on Tolkien and Lewis! 😉
Done!
I may be a bit prejudiced, but I love the opening lines to my novels (the first four are in progress, the last three are published):
“My mother once told me death isn’t the only way to die.” (Scenes from My Parents’ Marriage)
“The minute Meleia saw him at the top of the garden, she knew her mother had died.” (Destany’s Daughter)
“Relationships with dead people are entirely one-sided.” (Ghost Story)
“It was a small house, the living room neat but sparsely furnished, holding two lounge chairs, three big-screen TVs, one dead body, and seventeen cats.” (Innocent Blood, Vo. 2 of the Skylark PI series)
“Death was the furthest thing from her mind.” (Proof of Identity)
“He read through the last two files yet another time, sighing aloud and hoping for lightning to strike.” (Sins of the Past)
“I don’t particularly like insurance fraud cases, but with my bottom line I wasn’t in a position to turn down fairly easy, lucrative work just because it didn’t suit my sensibilities.” (Tough Blood, Vol 1 of the Skylark PI series)
It was around the hub of the evening on the planet of Porlumma when Captain Pausert, commercial traveler from the Republic of Nikkeldepain met the first of the witches of Karres.
It was just plain fate, so far as he could see.
THE WITCHES OF KARRES by James H. Schmitz
I believe that the first lines and the titles of #8 and #9 were switched around.
Yes, they were! I’ve just fixed it.
It was the day my grandmother exploded. The Crow Road, Iain Banks
Love it! Great opening.