First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words.
What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
- Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
- Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
- Finally… reveal the book!
Copy and paste the text and banner (or make your own!) above for your own First Lines Fridays posts. Make sure to comment your first lines in the comments so that other people can check them out!
Clues: Debut author | Southern Fiction | On Sale June 11
It’s easier to kill a man than a gator, but it takes the same kind of wait. You got to watch for the weakness, and take your shot to the back of the head. This gator I’m watching is watching me, too. She smells the last of my menstrual blood so she’s half in, half out of the water, laid up on the ridge of dry land that is our footpath through the swamp and out to the main road. I’m propped against an old cypress. We’re a pair. I’m sick with pain. The hours of wait have made me stiff, but it don’t matter. None of that matters. All that counts is this ridge laid out like a rope between us. This big ole thing’s got her back to the nest my girl Alma spotted earlier today. She’s a ten-foot mama, big enough to feed us through fall. Got two shells in this gun, but only one chance for a kill.
Read on to find out which book this is from.
5️⃣
4️⃣
3️⃣
2️⃣
1️⃣
0️⃣
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CALL YOUR DAUGHTER HOME by Deb Spera
Book Description
A stunning tour de force following three fierce, unforgettable Southern women in the years leading up to the Great Depression It’s 1924 South Carolina and the region is still recovering from the infamous boll weevil infestation that devastated the land and the economy. Gertrude, a mother of four, must make an unconscionable decision to save her daughters from starvation or die at the hands of an abusive husband. Retta is navigating a harsh world as a first- generation freed slave, still employed by the Coles, influential plantation proprietors who once owned her family. Annie is the matriarch of the Coles family and must come to terms with the terrible truth that has ripped her family apart. These three women seemingly have nothing in common, yet as they unite to stand up to the terrible injustices that have long plagued the small town, they find strength in the bond that ties women together. Told in the pitch- perfect voices of Gertrude, Retta and Annie, Call Your Daughter Home is an audacious, timeless story about the power of family, deep-buried secrets and the ferocity of motherhood.
Wow! I do love Southern Fiction. This story sounds amazing with powerful female characters showing incredible strength and perseverance.
Happy Reading!
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