Friday's Top Ten

I've done great first lines for the Top Ten before. Today there's a twist.

The Prize
Winner's choice of a Kindle copy of either IN NAME ONLY or SOLOMON'S COMPASS.

Option 1
Identify all ten lines by title and author. On Sunday night at 10 Central Time, I'll put the correct entries in random.org to choose a winner. If only one of you is correct, you automatically win.

Option 2
Identify as many as you know or care to look up. If no one has identified each one correctly, the winner will be drawn from the group of correct partial answers.

Hint 1: They're not all easy, but most are :)
Hint 2: Amazon and Google are your friends :)

Do you have a favorite from among these lines?


Ten great first lines from novels:

10. “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

  9. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

  8. "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

  7. "They shoot the white girl first."

  6. "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."

  5. "Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

  4. "You better not never tell nobody but God."

  3. "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since."

  2. "The morning Tony Lucia killed Angelo Coluzzi, he was late to feed his pigeons."

And one you should know, given recent events:

  1. "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

Good Luck!

Winner's name will be posted at the top of Monday's blog.