BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS
Happy Leap Day! It feels like we are getting an extra Book Beginnings on Fridays this Leap Year. Thank you for joining me. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.
MY BOOK BEGINNING
Jake's secretary called. Her brusque "Twelve o'clock sharp" unnerved me, more command than invitation to lunch in the partner's dining room.
-- From the Prologue to Alley Pond Park by Zachary Todd Gordon.
I wanted to give a two-sentence opening this week because that very fist sentence is too short to provide any sense of the book or even the scene. That second sentence pulls you more into the setting. We know the narrator is an employee, not a customer or client of Jake's. And from her tone, it sounds like there is tension in the workplace. That opening has potential.
Alley Pond Park is the debut novel from Zachary "Zak" Gordon. Zak turned his hand to fiction writing after retiring from a career in finance and investment. His wife Wendy Gordon is the author of the dystopian adventure, It's Always 9/11, and the domestic thriller, Wrong Highway.
Alley Pond Park launches March 26, 2024, and is available for pre-order through Itasca Books.
Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. Please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings if you share on social media.
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THE FRIDAY 56
Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.
MY FRIDAY 56
-- from Alley Pond Park:
After he left, I tried to get back to work but couldn't concentrate. I paced about the library, my sanctuary, and dear Mrs. Nichols the librarian, busy at the front desk ensuring everything was as it should be, updating index cards, alphabetizing everything by author and subject, noted my distress, approached me and asked if everything was ok.
FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION
Seth Matthews was sixteen when his older brother Jonah sped away on his motorcycle and never returned. Seth blames himself, but does he know the whole truth as he sets off on a journey to find Jonah and beg his forgiveness? He yearns to be a good person but his inner demons keep tripping him up. Neither success nor a loving marriage can satisfy the emptiness at his core as he navigates secrets, guilt, and obsessions through two tumultuous decades.
