There Was a Hand in the Darkness and It Held a Knife - Great First Sentences

What's your favourite first sentence in a novel?

The publisher of one recent teen book has focused its marketing on the book's first sentence, quoting Frank Cottrell-Boyce, author of Millions: “One of the best first sentences I’ve ever read and a book that lives up to it!”

Here is that first sentence: “The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don’t got nothing much to say. About anything.” The dog’s first sentence in the book is: “Need a poo, Todd.”

Want to know more? Read the book, The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness. I found the book, a deeply philosophical action-packed science fiction thriller, excellent, in a nail-biting sort of way, and think it would be a popular addition to secondary libraries.

This year's Newbery Award winning book existed for many years as a first sentence only. To quote the author:

I had a notebook with the words, “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.” That was definitely going to be the first line. I had begun and given up on the opening many times, and suddenly I thought, I can start in the middle. So I did.

To find out more, read the School Library Journal interview of Neil Gaiman, the author of The Graveyard Book. Or check out our Create Readers blog posts here and here.

So what do you think makes a great first sentence in a book? Maybe you could hold a competition with students and teachers putting forward their favourites. Perhaps your students could devise their own great first sentences. As always, we would be very excited to hear about your ideas in the comments below.