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TIDBITS® READS SOME FAMOUS FIRST LINES by Kathy Wolfe Great books start with great beginnings! See how many of these famous first lines you recognize as Tidbits presents these classics. • English novelist Charles Dickens opened his 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities with the line “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” One of the bestselling novels of all time, it is the story of French Dr. Alexandre Manette, who was falsely imprisoned in Paris’ Bastille for 18 years before and during the French Revolution. Manette was arrested as he attempted to expose the brutality of the aristocratic Evremonde brothers. • You’ve undoubtedly heard the line “It was a dark and stormy night” numerous times. Perhaps you’ve thought it was written by Charles Schulz’s cartoon character Snoopy, as he typed away on his typewriter atop his dog house. It was actually the first line in an 1830 novel, Paul Clifford, written by English novelist and politician Sir Edward George Bulwer-Lytton. It’s the story of a man leading a double life as a thief and an upscale gentleman who has no idea that he is the son of the judge who eventually sentences him to death. The famous phrase is also the first line of the famous 1962 Newbery Award-winning novel by Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time
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