The first line of my first novel, Shirts and Skins, appalled an editor at Penguin Books.
“I’m just appalled!” She said. “Appalled! Just appalled!”
Okay, I get it, lady. You were appalled. 🤷🏻♂️😆
Turns out it appalled some extended family too. I was simply trying to encapsulate the themes of my novel: disease, vulnerability, sadness, inherited traits etc.
But my mother thought it was great - and she would say it wasn’t at all true and even if it was ‘it was based on my father’s family’. 🤪
And I found a copy of Shirts and Skins on my Dad’s desk after he died. He also always proud to tell the nurses at his hospice they need to read my book (he saw he inspired the father in the novel though it wasn’t actually him). I would also sit tell him the story of my second novel, To Refrain From Embracing, as I was writing it so, even though he passed away before it was finished, he knew the entire story and enjoyed it (he also helped with some of the historic aspects since that novel is all set in 1977 Hamilton).
So what are your favourite first lines of novels? And was mine really so appalling?
Let me know.
