Tuesday, June 19, 2012

First Paragraph, Teaser Tuesday -- The Flight of Gemma Hardy


Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
This morning I'm starting The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey. I'm not sure where I heard about this book. Maybe I saw it on one of the blogs I read. A blurb about the book calls it a modern Jane Eyre. Here's the first paragraph:

We did not go for a walk on the first day of the year. The Christmas snow had melted, and rain had been falling since dawn, darkening the shrubbery and muddying the grass, but that would not have stopped my aunt from dispatching us. She believed in the benefits of fresh air for children in all weather. Later, I understood, she also enjoyed the peace and quiet of our absence. No, the cause of our not walking was my cousin Will, who claimed his cold was too severe to leave the sitting-room sofa, but not so bad that he couldn't play cards. His sister Louise, he insisted, must stay behind for a game of racing demon.

 Also this week is Teaser Tuesdays.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.
Here's my teaser from page 120:

"Children are so bloody uncompromising," he said quietly. "You think everything's black and white, that I'm on one side and you're on the other, but, Hardy, you're more like me than you know. One day you'll see something you want -- money, or someone else's husband, or a beautiful vase -- and you'll think you'll die if you can't have it. You'll be ready to risk your whole future for a few hours, a few days with whatever it is. When that happens think of me: working out my sentence."

What do you think? Would you keep reading? Would you put it on your TBR list?

13 comments:

Kathy Martin said...

I don't know that I would pick this one up. I don't much care for the person speaking in the teaser. I hope you are enjoying it. My teaser is from Fairest of All by Sarah Mylnowski. Happy reading!

Cathy De Los Santos said...

Thanks for stopping by, sounds like an interesting read. Hope you're enjoying it and I hope the character realizes sometime there are just some gray areas in life as well. hehe.

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

I have had this one on my wish list for a long while! I must get to it...I enjoyed another book by this author, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Great excerpts! And thanks for visiting my blog.

Jenny Q said...

I loved the first half of this book, but not so much the second. Ended up being a 3-star read for me. But you chose a great teaser! Here's my teaser, from a vintage western romance: Her Prairie Knight

JoAnn said...

I have a copy of this one! Plan to read it this summer.

DCMetroreader said...

If it really is a modern day Jane Eyre then I need to read it (as JE is one of my favorite books).

Diana said...

Wonder, what sentence the speaker means? Thanks for sharing and for visiting our blog.

Diana @ BookVenturers

Sidne said...

I'm not sure if this would make my reading list.
http://sidnereading.blogspot.com

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

That intro does nothing for me, but I was planning on trying this one and still may...LOL enjoy

Nise' said...

I've got this on my stack!

Kate said...

I loved Jane Eyre, so I'll definitely have to add this to my TBR!

Yvonne said...

This one sounds really good. I'll have to check it out.

Linda said...

I'm not sure. Let us know how it is. I might read it if I can get off my English mystery kick.

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