10 books
A great opening line does more than hook — it establishes the voice, the tone, and the world of everything that follows. These books all open memorably, from the most famous first sentence in English fiction to one of the most enigmatic. Reading them back-to-back is a masterclass in how novels begin.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." You already know the rest.
Featured
Charles Dickens · 1859
London and Paris, on either side of the French Revolution, threaded together by a doctor freed from the Bastille, the daughter who recalls him to life, and two men who happen to look identical. Famous opening, more famous ending, all of it underwritten by one of the great acts of self-sacrifice in fiction.
Read free →
