First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
- Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
- Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
- Finally… reveal the book!
Affiliate links can be found within this post. If you need additional information, please see the disclaimer.
Happy Friday readers!
Another week come and gone quickly with the weekend arriving. I’ve started my weekend read and it’s proving to have just the right flair and depth that I’m in the mood for right now. If you enjoy historical novels that portray Jane Austen and post questions about how her life may have been, then you’ll enjoy this book too.
Interestingly, I’ve been reading a whole series of regency romance books these last few weeks that take place ‘by the sea’ or feature the seaside. This book, while not even part of that series, also features the seaside theme. Perfect summer reading because of that element, but also reflective and nurturing to the mind.
Wishing you all a peaceful reading weekend and a quick Friday to get you there!
~ Ashley
Now onto FIRST LINES FRIDAY!
Falling away.
Spinning, whirling, tilting, and yet everything in the room is deathly still. Pianoforte. Father’s books, Mother’s huswife on the mahogany side table. Grey light.
Falling away.
‘Cassie, fetch tepid water and smelling salts. George, why do you stand there, dumb as an ox? A bolster from the girls’ bedroom.’
‘Mother, you were quick to act. I confess, I did not suspect so — ‘
‘Hush, Cass. I can’t sit all day with her head in my lap. Go to.’
When she awakes, she sees figures kneeling. Worried eyes, relieved smiles. She feels foolish. Neck damp, bonnet and boots removed. She has no memory of how she has come to be lying on the cold flagstone floor of her home.
First Lines Friday reveal…….
Six Weeks by the Sea by Paula Byrne
Available August 5th!
A vivid historical novel about Jane Austen that explores a question that has fascinated Janeites for years—Austen wrote some of the greatest love stories in existence, but did she ever fall in love?
When Jane Austen hears the news that her family is to leave their beloved country home for the city of Bath, she faints with surprise and horror. But there is one compensation: the promise of a six-week holiday by the sea while their new lodgings are being prepared. She relishes the bracing air and beautiful surroundings, takes pleasure in sea bathing, and shares laughter with her sister Cassandra and best friend Martha Lloyd.
To her joy, brother Frank arrives, fresh from naval exploits in the war against Napoleon. His friend Captain Parker seems to be making a play for Jane’s affections, but her sharp emotional intelligence tells her that something is not quite right. Meanwhile, she assists the eccentric Reverend Swete in finding a home for his bi-racial granddaughter who has arrived from the West Indies.
Jane initially takes against another visitor to the seaside resort of Sidmouth, the lawyer Samuel Rose, but as she gets to know him, a wholly different feeling begins to blossom. . . .
Written with a same wit and style that echos Austen herself, Paula Byrne expertly interweaves her deep knowledge of Austen and her world to imagine and give voice to the most romantic summer of the beloved author’s short life.
Looking for book recs…
Adventures in Literature 
Leave a comment