Thanks to Katy at A Few More Pages for hosting this meme. To participate, share the first line or two of the book you are currently reading and, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line.
I loved Tana French’s In the Woods and Faithful Place, and as I plan an upcoming trip to Ireland (my first), it seemed natural to pick up another Irish-set mystery. Bonus: this one is an audiobook, so I’m hoping to adjust a little bit to the accents I’ll be encountering soon! (I’m not always so good with accents. At least it’s not Scotland; that’s an accent I really can’t decipher.) We begin:
Some nights, if I’m sleeping on my own, I still dream about Whitethorn House. In the dream it’s always spring, cool fine light with a late-afternoon haze.
That’s lovely, in my opinion. It’s atmospheric. One of the things I love about French is the sense of place she creates in her books, which of course is of special interest now since I’m planning a trip there. And this beginning is almost reminiscent of Rebecca, isn’t it? Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again…
Filed under: book beginnings | Tagged: audio, mystery, Tana French |
pagesofjulia 
I haven’t been to Ireland yet! I hope you have a great time!!!!!!!!!!!! And please share some photos.
We’ll do our best to take pictures, yes! It’s supposed to be beautiful. I’ve only ever been to Europe in December and January so I’m very excited about it not being covered in snow! Although that’s lovely too, of course. I love Europe in winter (so different from anything we ever see here in Texas!) but it will be nice to see some green.
And you’re so close now! Surely you can get to Ireland for a weekend?
London is off the itinerary, btw. I do need to get Husband over there; he’s never been. But now it’s on the next-time list. We’re sticking to Ireland (and maybe Northern Ireland) this time.
Too bad about London, but trust me I know how hard it is to fit in everything. We want to go for a weekend, but we can never get the timing right. We have some upcoming trips and hopefully we will get there before the end of the year. Take plenty of notes for me about cool stuff to do and see 🙂
Sure, I’ll blog it all for you!
I haven’t been to Ireland either, but it’s on the list.
I think this is a very good book beginning 🙂
I would not have picked that as a mystery. It looks really good.
I love audiobooks, though I’ve encountered a few where I didn’t like the narrators, so I hope that this book has enough accents for you. 🙂 My hubby and I used to listen to audio books while driving, but we seem to drive less now so we haven’t done that in a while.
[…] one another. And she perfectly imparts that suspenseful, atmospheric tone, which reminded me from the first lines of du Maurier’s Rebecca. Whitethorn House, like Manderley, is almost a character in itself; […]