A Selection of First Sentences From New Books

1979: This was the year the parents in my neighbourhood began

killing themselves.

“That Time I Loved You,” a novel by Carrianne Leung

I was at the mercy of the man behind the desk.

“The Cassandra,” a novel by Sharma Shields

The door of the sleeper sailed open, breaking the tu-tum-tu-tum of the wheels on the track, the medical blue of the overhead light panels dispelling the secretive blue of night on a train. “Savage Feast: Three Generations, Two Continents,

and a Dinner Table,” by Boris Fishman