First Lines

There is nothing more important than the first line of a novel. The best first lines instantly hook you and set the tone for the story. Many of our favourite books have memorable first sentences and we thought we’d share them.

“The circus arrives without warning.” The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

“By the time Alex had managed to get the blood out of her good wool coat, it was too warm to wear it.” Ninth House by Leigh Bardougo

“I’ve been called Bone all my life, but my name’s Ruth Anne.” Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison

“In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.” The Great Gatsby by F. Scott. Fitzgerald

“If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.” A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

“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

“There is a pirate in the basement.” The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

“Call me Ishmael.” Moby Dick by Herman Melville

“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

“This is my favourite book in all the world, though I have never read it.” The Princess Bride by William Goldman

“My father was a king and the son of kings.” The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

“In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.” The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

“Marley was dead, to begin with.” A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

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

“When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist.” Circe by Madeline Miller

“Hale knew before he had been in Brighton for three hours, that they meant to murder him.” Brighton Rock by Graham Greene