We had an amazing response to our favourite first lines competition, running during and after Bookfest. Thanks very much to everyone who shared their favourites with us. We loved reading all your entries, which included many classics and even a few original first lines from people’s unpublished novels. It was really interesting to see which books made an impression on people right from the start, and we’ll be posting very soon about which were the most popular first lines.
But now, we’re pleased to announce the winner of the favourite first lines competition. So, drumroll please…
Congratulations to Judith Allen! She scored the fantastic prize of a hamper of Cafédirect’s award-winning coffees and teas, plus a grinder and cafetiere, worth over £100. (In fact, she just emailed to say thanks and that she’s “feeling the caffeine overload just looking at it all”!).
Judith nominated the first line from Iain Banks’s The Crow Road as her favourite: “It was the day my grandmother exploded.” It’s short but is to the (rather dangerous) point!
She says: “It is such an unexpected opening to a novel, even for the author of The Wasp Factory. Before my own beloved grandmother’s funeral, I asked if she’d had a pacemaker, we wouldn’t be wanting anything Banksian. My cousin caught my eye, and my English teacher uncle too. They knew! We shared a smile. Grandma loved a good book too. She would have enjoyed it.”
Her creative, humourous reasoning won over the judging panel, which included Cafédirect’s Alex Georgiou and author Tim Butcher.
Tim, who penned the best-selling Blood River and is a guest blogger, commented on The Crows Road’s opening: “This sets my reading heart racing by summoning the holy trinity of great writing: it is bold, unexpected and tantalising. The reader is immediately set up with an image that is familiar (most of us have had a grandmother) and yet we are forced to imagine her doing something unfamiliar (exploding, for Christ’s sake). You want to read on. There can be no greater achievement for a writer.’’
And his own top pick? “The first line of Casino Royale by Ian Fleming is among my favourites (”The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning.’’) not just because it creates a strong image of decadence, risk and fear but because of what flowed from it and the James Bond character it introduces us to. When Fleming typed those lines could he possibly have imagined he was unleashing a character who would still be firing imaginations half a century later in millions of people from all the around the world? Some character, some writing achievement.”
Congrats again to Judith on her achievement, and thanks again to all who entered the competition. Stay tuned to find out the most popular first lines (guesses about which line topped the list are welcome in the comments!).
Tags: Bookfest 2009, Cafédirect, favourite first lines competition, Tim Butcher, winner announced
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