First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intros -

Every Tuesday Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where we share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book we are reading or thinking about reading soon.

I'm reading Disgrace by Jussi Adler-Olsen.

These are the opening lines...

'Another shot echoed over the treetops.
The beaters' calls had grown clearer. A throbbing pulse was thundering against my eardrums, the damp air forcing its way into my lungs so fast and hard that it hurt.
Run, run, don't fall. I'll never get up again if I do.'

~~~~~

What do you think, would you keep reading?


Synopsis

Kimmie's home is on the streets of Copenhagen. To live she must steal. She has learned to avoid the police and never to stay in one place for long. But now others are trying to find her. And they won't rest until she has stopped moving - for good. Detective Carl Mørck of Department Q, the cold cases division, has received a file concerning the brutal murder of a brother and sister twenty years earlier. A group of boarding school students were the suspects at the time - until one of their number confessed and was convicted. So why is the file of a closed case on Carl's desk? Who put it there? Who believes the case is not solved? A police detective wants to talk to Kimmie and someone else is asking questions about her. They know she carries secrets certain powerful people want to stay buried deep. But Kimmie has one of her own. It's the biggest secret of them all. And she can't wait to share it with them... 

First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - How Green Was My Valley

Every Tuesday Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where we share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book we are reading or thinking about reading soon.

I'm reading How Green was my Valley by Richard Llewellyn.

These are the opening lines...


'I am going to pack my two shirts with my other socks and my best suit in the little blue cloth my mother used to tie round her hair when she did the house, and I am going from the Valley.'

~~~~~

What do you think, would you keep reading?


Synopsis

Growing up in a mining community in rural South Wales, Huw Morgan is taught many harsh lessons. Looking back, where difficult days are faced with courage and the valleys swell with the sound of Welsh voices, it becomes clear that there is nowhere so green as the landscape of his own memory.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Whatever You Love

Every Tuesday Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where we share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book we are reading or thinking about reading soon.

I'm reading Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty.

These are the opening lines...


'Muscle has memory; the body knows things the mind will not admit. Two police officers were at my door - uniformed, arranged - yet even as the door swung open upon them, which was surely the moment that I knew, even then, my conscious self was seeking other explanations, turning round and round, like a rat in a cage. Muscle memory - not the same thing as instinct of course, but related: pianists know about this, and tap dancers, and anyone who has ever given birth. Even those who have done nothing more than tie their shoelaces know it. The body is quicker than the mind. The body can be trusted.'

~~~~~

What do you think, would you keep reading?


Synopsis

Two police officers knock on Laura's door and her life changes forever. They tell her that her nine-year old daughter Betty has been hit by a car and killed. When justice is slow to arrive, Laura decides to take her own revenge and begins to track down the man responsible.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Inflicted

Every Tuesday Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where we share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book we are reading or thinking about reading soon.

I'm reading Inflicted by Ria Frances, published by Britain's Next Bestseller. 

These are the opening lines...


'When Theo opened his eyes, his first thought was that he should be dead. The thought swung like a pendulum then vanished without scorching his memory. An iron sky rushed towards him. He lay helpless beneath it, waiting for oblivion.'

I'm halfway through this novel and finding it a very moving and captivating read. 

What do you think, would you keep reading?


Synopsis

In 1942, as Europe suffocates under the grip of Nazi terror, Anna Levinsky a young Jew, is incarcerated in the ghetto of Theresienstadt. Striving for survival in abominable conditions, during the unveiling of adulthood, Anna's improbable fate hinges on the mercy of others. In the early, wintry days of 2010, sixteen-year-old Theo Drew emerges from a family tragedy trailing a corrosive secret. When guilt threatens to overwhelm him, Theo flees to a deserted woods beside the sea, seeking oblivion. As Anna and Theo’s worlds inadvertently collide and a delicate friendship severs the barriers between age and experience, the truth and the past unravel, revealing the essence of human salvation.

Tuesday Intros: The Pimlico Kid by Barry Walsh

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea - every Tuesday, sharing the first paragraph (or a few) of a book you are currently reading or thinking about reading soon. Visit the blog here to join in.

I'm reading The Pimlico Kid by Barry Walsh.

Prologue - October 1975

Taunton 20 miles. The road sign slips past and another, listing local villages, glides towards me. One name stands out like my own on a guest list. A door into the past swings open and  releases a locked-away ache. The car slows, behind me a horn blares. I pull into a lay-by.

~~~~~

What do you think, and would you keep reading?

~~~~~

Synopsis

It’s 1963. Billy Driscoll and his best mate, Peter ‘Rooksy’ Rooker, have the run of their street. Whether it’s ogling sexy mum, Madge, as she pegs out her washing, or avoiding local bully Griggsy, the estates and bombsites of Pimlico have plenty to fire their fertile imagination.

Billy is growing up and after years of being the puny one, he’s finally filling out. He is also taking more than a passing interest in Sarah Richards, his pretty neighbour. But he isn’t her only admirer – local heartthrob and rotten cheat, Kenneth ‘Kirk’ Douglas, likes her too – something drastic must be done if Billy is to get his girl.

When Rooksy suggests a day out with Sarah and her shy friend, Josie, it seems like the perfect summer outing. Little do they know that it will be a day of declarations and revelations; of secrets and terrifying encounters – and that it will change them all forever…

Tuesday Intros: The Blue Suitcase by Marianne Wheelaghan

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea - every Tuesday, sharing the first paragraph (or a few) of a book you are currently reading or thinking about reading soon. Visit the blog here to join in.

I'm reading The Blue Suitcase by Marianne Wheelaghan.

First paragraph

'Mum was eighty-two when she died. I discovered the suitcase three months later. Her flat was to be sold. I was waiting for the agent to come and view it. Except for a feather duster forgotten in the airing cupboard, a kitchen chair and the big mahogany wardrobe, the place was empty.'

~~~~~

What do you think, and would you keep reading?

I've nearly finished this book and have found it a very interesting historical read with a compelling voice, namely Antonia's personal diary entries.

~~~~~

Synopsis

It is 1932, Silesia, Germany, and the eve of Antonia's 12th birthday. Hitler's Brownshirts and Red Front Marxists are fighting each other in the streets. Antonia doesn't care about the political unrest but it's all her family argue about. Then Hitler is made Chancellor and order is restored across the country, but not in Antonia's family. The longer the National Socialists stay in power, the more divided the family becomes with devastating consequences. Unpleasant truths are revealed and terrible lies uncovered. Antonia thinks life can't get much worse - and then it does.

Partly based on a true-life story, Antonia's gripping diary takes the reader inside the head of an ordinary teenage girl growing up. Her journey into adulthood, however, is anything but ordinary.

Tuesday Intro: The Goddess and the Thief by Essie Fox

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea - every Tuesday, sharing the first paragraph (or a few) of a book you are currently reading or thinking about reading soon. Visit the blog here to join in.

I'm reading The Goddess and the Thief by Essie Fox.

What a stunning cover design this book has.

First paragraph

'The Letter - Never Sent

Benares

Tuesday, July 22nd, 1843

My Dearest Sister, Mercy,

How pleased I was to receive your letter, and to know that you and Mama have settled into the Windsor house, although Charles (and please, you must call him Charles - Doctor Willoughby is too formal by far!) says he will not countenance one more word of you being the 'poor relations'. He insists that Claremont Road is yours to do with exactly as you choose, and that when the time comes for us to return the house is perfectly adequate to accommodate the four of us - and any children too.

I only wish I were with you now, to select the new hangings and furniture - all those pleasures that I dreamed about before Charles was so prematurely called to return to his duties in India. Oh, Mercy, how I miss you! England is too far away, both in distance and in memory. I beg you not to tell Mama, but your letter has found me ailing and really at the lowest ebb. This homesickness consumes me.'

Well, I'm halfway through and really absorbed in this brilliant tale. I liked the opening and was intrigued about the fact that the letter was never sent.

What do you think, and would you keep reading?

Synopsis

Uprooted from her home in India, Alice is raised by her aunt, a spiritualist medium in Windsor. When the mysterious Mr Tilsbury enters their lives, Alice is drawn into a plot to steal the priceless Koh-i-Noor diamond, claimed by the British Empire at the end of the Anglo-Sikh wars.

Said to be both blessed and cursed, the sacred Indian stone exerts its power over all who encounter it: a handsome deposed maharajah determined to claim his rightful throne, a man hell-bent on discovering the secrets of eternity, and a widowed queen who hopes the jewel can draw her husband's spirit back. In the midst of all this madness, Alice must discover a way to regain control of her life and fate...

Tuesday Intro: Wolfsangel by Liza Perrat

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea - every Tuesday, sharing the first paragraph (or a few) of a book you are currently reading or thinking about reading soon. Visit the blog here to join in.

I'm reading Wolfsangel by Liza Perrat.

I really enjoyed Spirit of Lost Angels, by the same author, and I've found myself drawn into this story very quickly too and keen to see what happens next. 

First paragraph

'We gather in the cemetery, before the ossuary, with the straggle of other remaining survivors and their families. Our heads dipped, the mayor beings his memorial speech to commemorate the tragedy that became a legend around these parts; the evil that part of me still believes was the result of my own reckless actions.'

Synopsis

Seven decades after German troops march into her village, Céleste Roussel is still unable to assuage her guilt.

1943. German soldiers occupy provincial Lucie-sur-Vionne, and as the villagers pursue treacherous schemes to deceive and swindle the enemy, Céleste embarks on her own perilous mission as her passion for a Reich officer flourishes.

When her loved ones are deported to concentration camps, Céleste is drawn into the vortex of this monumental conflict, and the adventure and danger of French Resistance collaboration.

As she confronts the harrowing truths of the Second World War’s darkest years, Céleste is forced to choose: pursue her love for the German officer, or answer General de Gaulle’s call to fight for France.

Her fate suspended on the fraying thread of her will, Celeste gains strength from the angel talisman bequeathed to her through her lineage of healer kinswomen. But the decision she makes will shadow the remainder of her days.

A woman’s unforgettable journey to help liberate Occupied France, Wolfsangel is a stirring portrayal of the courage and resilience of the human mind, body and spirit.