Books: The First Sentence

[Chris L]

Okay, @Leighton - I don't think anybody else is going to get it. It's Stephen King's The Gunslinger.

"When I think of my wife, I always think of her head."

[Chris L]

The rest of the first paragraph:

When I think of my wife, I always think of her head. The shape of it, to begin with. The very first time I saw her, it was the back of the head I saw, and there was something lovely about it, the angles of it. Like a shiny, hard corn kernel or a riverbed fossil. She had what the Victorians would call a finely shaped head. You could imagine the skull quite easily.

[KathyB]

I don't know the answer, but I have the suspicion I've read this one.

[Chris L]

I don't know the answer, but I have the suspicion I've read this one.

I'd be surprised if you hadn't. Hint: It's from this decade.

[Chris L]

I don't know the answer, but I have the suspicion I've read this one.

I'd be surprised if you hadn't. Hint: It's from this decade.

Another hint: The book's title is a synonym for "Departed Young Female."

[KathyB]

I don't know the answer, but I have the suspicion I've read this one.

I'd be surprised if you hadn't. Hint: It's from this decade.

Another hint: The book's title is a synonym for "Departed Young Female."

Oh! It's Gone Girl I didn't realize those were the first words.

[Chris L]

Oh! It's Gone Girl I didn't realize those were the first words.

Nobody did, apparently.
Your turn.

[KathyB]

"On December 8th, 1915, Meggie Cleary had her fourth birthday."

[Chris L]

"On December 8th, 1915, Meggie Cleary had her fourth birthday."

Just a guess, because I don't remember that much about how the novel opened, but Atonement?

[KathyB]

Good guess, but sadly, incorrect. Different part of the world.

[KathyB]

I gave the first sentence of the novel itself, but there is an opening paragraph before the beginning of the book that starts out like this:

There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth.

[Chris L]

That sounds very familiar, but I'm having trouble placing it. I'm going to request a hint: Is it fantasy?

[KathyB]

That sounds very familiar, but I'm having trouble placing it. I'm going to request a hint: Is it fantasy?

No. It's historical fiction. (bonus hint)

[KathyB]

It's historical fiction, written by the most well-known resident of Norfolk Island. 

[Chris L]

I decided I was allowed to cheat at this point, so I looked up Norfolk Island and learned that Colleen McCullough lived there. Is it The Thorn Birds?