Book Beginnings & Friday 56 - #24

Book Beginnings on Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader. Every Friday we share the first sentence (or so) of the book we’re currently reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

My Book Beginning:  

Maisie Dobbs (Maisie Dobbs Mystery Series, Book 1) by Jacqueline Winspear

Even if she hadn’t been the last person to walk through the turnstile at Warren Street tube station, Jack Barker would have noticed the tall, slender woman in the navy blue, thigh-length jacket with a matching pleated skirt short enough to reveal a well-turned ankle.  She had what his old mother would have called “bearing”. A way of walking with her shoulder back and her head held high, as she pulled on her black gloves while managing to hold onto a somewhat battered black document case. 

My Thoughts:  Even if you didn’t know this is a mystery set in a historical setting, the description of the woman’s clothing tells you that it’s not a contemporary book.  I can actually picture what she’s wearing based on the time setting (Post WW1).

What do you think?  Don't forget to leave your book beginning below and to link-up at Rose City Reader.  

Like what you read? Enter my giveaway for a book in this series here.  

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Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda’s Voice on every Friday.

To Play along here are the Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your post below. 

*Don’t forget to add your post URL (not your blog url) at Freda’s Voice.  
*It's that simple.

My 56 (Also from Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear ): 

      As the train moved slowly along, though it was still light, Maisie had a sense of darkness descending.  Gunmetal gray clouds loomed overhead, splashes of rain streaked across the windows, and when the train stopped at a station, the sound of heavy artillery in the distance seemed to echo and reverberate along the tracks.  Even the birds had been silenced by the mighty orchestra of battle.

My Thoughts:  This is the first description of Maisie entering the actual “war zone” of World War I in France, where she is temporarily stationed as a nurse.  I think it’s very descriptive of how even nature and the earth realized the destructiveness of war. 

So what do you think?  Keep reading?  Don’t forget to leave your link below and link up at Freda’s Voice.  

 About Maisie Dobbs (Maisie Dobbs Mystery Series, Book 1) by Jacqueline Winspear

Maisie Dobbs got her start as a maid in an aristocratic London household when she was thirteen. Her employer, suffragette Lady Rowan Compton, soon became her patron, taking the remarkably bright youngster under her wing. Lady Rowan's friend, Maurice Blanche, often retained as an investigator by the European elite, recognized Maisie’s intuitive gifts and helped her earn admission to the prestigious Girton College in Cambridge, where Maisie planned to complete her education.

The outbreak of war changed everything. Maisie trained as a nurse, then left for France to serve at the Front, where she found—and lost—an important part of herself. Ten years after the Armistice, in the spring of 1929, Maisie sets out on her own as a private investigator, one who has learned that coincidences are meaningful, and truth elusive. Her very first case involves suspected infidelity but reveals something very different.

In the aftermath of the Great War, a former officer has founded a working farm known as The Retreat, that acts as a convalescent refuge for ex-soldiers too shattered to resume normal life. When Fate brings Maisie a second case involving The Retreat, she must finally confront the ghost that has haunted her for over a decade.

Amazon

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a book in this series!

Don't forget to post your meme's and link up at both host locations.  

Have a great Friday! 

Maria