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Patrick French | First Sentence
Patrick French
‘In Edwardian days, if you were growing up in England (though Maurice was from Ireland) your life was regimented.’
Mess
Romesh Gunesekera
‘You have to go on the offensive until you smell victory. Then you have the aphrodisiac and can go full tilt.’
1979
Aminatta Forna
‘What happened in 1979 has happened many times before and many times since, in places where people have set themselves free and believed with all their hearts that the freedom they had fought for was real and lasting, only to be recaptured.’
Selvy After the War
Frances Harrison
‘She exudes happiness. Somewhere along the line she understood that this was the best way to defeat the men who tortured her.’
A Dynasty of Album Cover Art
Lemi Ghariokwu
‘The music is as powerful as it gets and beneath his knife-edge, cutting sarcasm, Fela’s voice rages.’
The Third Pole
Gavin Francis
‘I came to the Himalayas not because of a dream of mountains or of animals, but because of a map.’
The Two Gardens
Lorna Gibb
‘There are two gardens in my memory. The first was hidden behind the rows of shabby council houses where I grew up.’
I Love This Dirty Town
Anjum Hasan
‘What is hard to miss and impossible not to grieve over is how present-day Shillong has been overwhelmed by the material aspirations of its people.’
Jenni Fagan | My Writing Playlist
Jenni Fagan
Best of Young British Novelist Jenni Fagan selects five songs that she loves to write to.