The Best 100 Opening Lines From Books - Life - Stylist Magazine

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Best opening lines from books

The best 100 opening lines from books

Literature's finest first words

There's nothing quite like a book that has you gripped from the very first line. As the first thing the reader reads, it's been said that the opening line sells a book whislt the closing line sells the author's next one.

With this in mind, we've raided the Stylist book shelf to put together our 100 best - and, in some cases, the most iconic - first lines from some of our favourite works of literature. From classics such as Little Women and Emma and landmark novels such as Virgina Woolf's A Room Of One's Own through to modern day works including Harry Potter and Atonement, these are lines to capture the imagination.

'Click an image to launch the gallery. Once you've worked your way through these, take a look at our list of the 100 best closing lines from books here.''

Or come see suggestions from Emerald Street, our daily email service, on 20 books you must read

Tags: books


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