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?

The Rules:

• 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!

First Lines:

“The girl watched from the blackberry bush as the cabin glowed in the falling darkness. 

The windows radiated warm voices and the smell of chicken and dumplings. Her belly churned. She hadn’t eaten or uttered a word in days.

A dark-haired woman led a small group out of the cabin into the backyard, where a fire blazed. As they gathered around the flames, the woman pulled out a large canning jar filled with a gray powder, and a black leather book.”

I love opening lines that leave me with more questions than answers, and have me excited to read the book. The author also quickly demonstrates how beautifully she can set a scene and transport her readers right alongside the characters. It doesn’t hurt that there’s an ominous tone of foreshadowing. 

Do you recognize the lines?

Here’s a hint:

This is an upcoming debut standalone fantasy that I’m currently reading and it’s wonderful.

Still not sure? Here’s another hint:

It’s written by Alli Dyer.

The First Lines Friday book is:

Strange Folk.

About the Book:

• Title: Strange Folk
• Author: Alli Dyer
• Page Length: 320 pages
• Publication Date: August 6, 2024
• Publisher: Atria Books

Synopsis:

A woman returns to her estranged, magical family in Appalachia but when a man is found dead in the woods nearby, it seems the family has conjured something sinister in this lush, shimmering, and wildly imaginative debut novel that is perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman, Deborah Harkness, and Sarah Addison Allen.

Lee left Craw Valley at eighteen without a backward glance. She wanted no part of the generations of her family who tapped into the power of the land to heal and help their community. But when she abandons her new life in California and has nowhere else to go, Lee returns to Craw Valley with her children in tow to live with her grandmother, Belva.

Lee vows to stay far away from Belva’s world of magic, but when the target of one of her grandmother’s spells is discovered dead, Lee fears that Belva’s magic may have summoned something dark.

As she and her family search for answers, Lee travels down a rabbit hole of strange phenomena and family secrets that force her to reckon with herself and rediscover her power in order to protect her family and the town she couldn’t leave behind.

Links: Goodreads     

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