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Original poster

Guess the opening lines...

419 replies

kinkytoes · 14/05/2026 15:02

Hi all, hope it's ok to start this here.

Thought it might be fun and stretch the old grey matter a bit.

I'll attach a shot of some opening lines and whoever guesses correctly post their own?

We could all just post pics but then we might lose track. I don't mind.

Let me know what you think (of the idea, and the opening lines here - hopefully started off with an easyish one but let me know if any clues are needed!)

If it's being done elsewhere please someone direct me 😊

Guess the opening lines...
OP posts:
In234Out23456 · 14/05/2026 20:52

HelenaWilson · 14/05/2026 20:46

There have been two moments in my life. Moments when everything changed. Moments when things could have gone either way. Moments when I had to make a choice. The first occurred when, after another disruptive day at school, I stood in front of my head teacher, Mrs De Winter.

Just one damned thing after another

CrossPurposes · 14/05/2026 20:53

Mr Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable.

backslashruby · 14/05/2026 20:54

notatinydancer · 14/05/2026 20:43

Wuthering Heights- my all time favourite.

Show quote history

Correct. Gold star for Tiny.

pollyhemlock · 14/05/2026 20:54

LittleMyLabyrinth · 14/05/2026 20:37

  1. It is difficult to know quite where to begin this story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon at the Vicarage. The conversation, though in the main irrelevant to the matter in hand, yet contained one or two suggestive incidents which influenced later developments.
  2. The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child.
  3. The suburb of Saffron Park lay on the sunset side of London, as red and ragged as a cloud of sunset. It was built of a bright brick throughout; its sky-line was fantastic, and even its ground plan was wild. It had been the outburst of a speculative builder, faintly tinged with art, who called its architecture sometimes Elizabethan and sometimes Queen Anne, apparently under the impression that the two sovereigns were identical. It was described with some justice as an artistic colony, though it never in any definable way produced any art. But although its pretensions to be an intellectual centre were a little vague, its pretensions to be a pleasant place were quite indisputable. The stranger who looked for the first time at the quaint red houses could only think how very oddly shaped the people must be who could fit in to them.

Number 3 is The Man Who Was Thursday by GK Chesterton

backslashruby · 14/05/2026 20:55

kinkytoes · 14/05/2026 19:58

Wuthering Heights ❤️

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Correct. Gold star for kinky.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 14/05/2026 20:57

fantam · 14/05/2026 20:52

"Once, when I was six years old, I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor swallowing a wild beast."

The Little Prince.

HelenaWilson · 14/05/2026 20:57

Just one damned thing after another

Yes. I wondered whether to leave out Mrs De Winter. That rather gives it away to anyone who knows the book.

pollyhemlock · 14/05/2026 21:04

LittleMyLabyrinth · 14/05/2026 20:37

  1. It is difficult to know quite where to begin this story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon at the Vicarage. The conversation, though in the main irrelevant to the matter in hand, yet contained one or two suggestive incidents which influenced later developments.
  2. The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child.
  3. The suburb of Saffron Park lay on the sunset side of London, as red and ragged as a cloud of sunset. It was built of a bright brick throughout; its sky-line was fantastic, and even its ground plan was wild. It had been the outburst of a speculative builder, faintly tinged with art, who called its architecture sometimes Elizabethan and sometimes Queen Anne, apparently under the impression that the two sovereigns were identical. It was described with some justice as an artistic colony, though it never in any definable way produced any art. But although its pretensions to be an intellectual centre were a little vague, its pretensions to be a pleasant place were quite indisputable. The stranger who looked for the first time at the quaint red houses could only think how very oddly shaped the people must be who could fit in to them.

And Number 2 is The Turn of the Screw

fantam · 14/05/2026 21:04

"Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.”

fantam · 14/05/2026 21:05

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 14/05/2026 20:57

The Little Prince.

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Correct. Full marks.

Disasterclass · 14/05/2026 21:06

ProudPearl · 14/05/2026 19:24

That's Anne of Greene Gables!

Here's mine:
When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.

Show quote history

The Outsiders?

ToadRage · 14/05/2026 21:08

I don't know many of these but I fancied posting one si here goes, the character might give it away for a fan:
You’ll pardon me, sir,” said the clergyman in a sharp, vigorous voice. “Your features are familiar, but I find it hard to recall where we have met. Was it in Oxford?” The young man was tall and thin and big boned, with a scar on his cheek. ... “You’re the Reverend Dr. Halse, aren’t you?” he said. ... “You know me, then,” said Dr. Halse with a gracious air. “I usually have a memory for faces.” “You have had many pupils.” “Ah, that explains it. Maturity changes a face. And—hm. Let me see… Is it Hawkey?

TonTonMacoute · 14/05/2026 21:08

So, now get up.'
Felled, dazed, silent, he has fallen; knocked full length on the cobbles of the yard. His head turns sideways; his eyes are turned towards the gate, as if someone might arrive to help him out. One blow, properly placed, could kill him now.
**

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 14/05/2026 21:08

fantam · 14/05/2026 21:04

"Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.”

Ulysses. I've read that bit several times but rarely got more than a few pages into it.

Priceyyy · 14/05/2026 21:11

FeliciaFancybottom · 14/05/2026 16:00

These are my New Year’s resolutions:

  1. I will help the blind across the road.
  2. I will hang my trousers up.
  3. I will put the sleeves back on my records.
  4. I will not start smoking.
  5. I will stop squeezing my spots.
  6. I will be kind to the dog.
  7. I will help the poor and ignorant.
  8. After hearing the disgusting noises from
downstairs last night, I have also vowed never to drink alcohol.

I’m so embarrassed I thought it was Bridget Jones’s Diary at first glance 🤦🏻‍♀️

yes I have just admitted that

Sheeppig · 14/05/2026 21:11

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 14/05/2026 17:32

This is the whole of the opening paragraph:

The truth is, if old Major Dover hadn’t dropped dead at Taunton races Jim would never have come to Thursgood’s at all. He came in mid-term without an interview, late May it was though no one would have thought it from the weather, employed through one of the shiftier agencies specialising in supply teachers for prep schools, to hold down old Dover’s teaching till someone suitable could be found. ‘A linguist,’ Thursgood told the common room, ‘a temporary measure,’ and brushed away his forelock in self- defence. ‘Priddo.’ He gave the spelling ‘ P- R- I- D’ – French was not Thursgood’s subject so he consulted the slip of paper – ‘ E- A- U- X, rst name James. I think he’ll do us very well till July.’ The sta had no difculty in reading the signals. Jim Prideaux was a poor white of the teaching community. He belonged to the same sad bunch as the late Mrs Loveday who had a Persian lamb coat and stood in for junior divinity until her cheques bounced, or the late Mr Maltby, the pianist who had been called from choir practice to help the police with their enquiries, and for all anyone knew was helping them to this day, for Maltby’s trunk still lay in the cellar awaiting instructions. Several of the staff , but chiefly Marjoribanks, were in favour of opening that trunk. They said it contained notorious missing treasures: Aprahamian’s silver-framed picture of his Lebanese mother, for instance; Best- Ingram’s Swiss army penknife and Matron’s watch. But Thursgood set his creaseless face resolutely against their entreaties. Only five years had passed since he had inherited the school from his father, but they had taught him already that some things are best locked away.

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John Le Carre- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

fantam · 14/05/2026 21:14

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 14/05/2026 21:08

Ulysses. I've read that bit several times but rarely got more than a few pages into it.

Show quote history

You're on a roll. Most "normal" readers find it a bit impenetrable, including me! But I lived in Dublin for a few years and got involved in Bloomsday that celebrates Ulysses on 16th June, the day in the book. Dressed up in the gear of the era too. I still don't know half of what they were talking about, but a famed Joycean scholar David Norris gave talks and guided tours, he was so entertaining, it didn't matter if you hadn't a clue what Joyce was trying to say!

Mumsgirls · 14/05/2026 21:16

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 14/05/2026 20:15

Yes!

^Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who,
for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage;
there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a
distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and
respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents;
there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs
changed naturally into pity and contempt as he turned over
the almost endless creations of the last century; and there,
if every other leaf were powerless, he could read his own history
with an interest which never failed.^

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Sir Walter is Persuasion

MaidMiriam · 14/05/2026 21:22

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.

Ormally · 14/05/2026 21:25

merryhouse · 14/05/2026 16:59

There was a man and he had eight sons. Apart from that, he was nothing more than a comma on the page of History. It's sad, but that's all you can say about some people.

Sourcery?

SabrinaThwaite · 14/05/2026 21:27

MaidMiriam · 14/05/2026 21:22

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.

Ulysses.

Here’s mine:

Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.

pollyhemlock · 14/05/2026 21:29

TonTonMacoute · 14/05/2026 21:08

So, now get up.'
Felled, dazed, silent, he has fallen; knocked full length on the cobbles of the yard. His head turns sideways; his eyes are turned towards the gate, as if someone might arrive to help him out. One blow, properly placed, could kill him now.
**

Wolf Hall

Raven08 · 14/05/2026 21:30

The lion, the witch and the wardrobe

SabrinaThwaite · 14/05/2026 21:40

Raven08 · 14/05/2026 21:30

The lion, the witch and the wardrobe

Correct. Loved the books as a child (still do).

Original poster
kinkytoes · 14/05/2026 21:42

backslashruby · 14/05/2026 20:55

Correct. Gold star for kinky.

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Awww TYSM! 🫶

OP posts: