First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #8 and Tuesday Teaser

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. It's an opportunity to share the first paragraphs of a book I am currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

This week I'm featuring the opening paragraphs of A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy, a novel I purchased last November while visiting Ireland--before the book was available here (the U.S. copy was published in February 2013).

Irish/UK Book Cover

US Book Cover

Published in the UK by Orion Books/Hachette UK

Published in the US by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Chicky

"Everyone had their own job to do on the Ryans' farm in Stoneybridge.  The boys helped their father in the fields, mending fences, bringing the cows back to be milked, digging drills of potatoes; Mary fed the calves, Kathleen baked the bread and Geraldine did the hens.

Not that they ever called her Geraldine, she was Chicky as far back as anyone could remember.  A serious little girl pouring out meal for the baby chickens or collecting the fresh eggs each day, always saying 'chuck, chuck, chuck' soothingly into the feathers as she worked.  Chicky had names for all the hens, and no one could tell her when one had been taken to provide a Sunday lunch.  They always pretended it was a Shop Chicken, but Chicky always knew.

Stoneybridge was a West of Ireland paradise for children during the summer, but the summer was short and most of the time it was wet and wild and lonely on the Atlantic coast.  Still, there were caves to explore, cliffs to climb, birds' nests to discover and wild sheep with great curly horns to investigate.  And then there was Stone House.  Chicky loved to play in the huge overgrown garden.  Sometimes the Miss Sheedys, three sisters who owned the house, and were ancient, let her play at dressing up in their old clothes."

What do you think?  Would you keep reading? The story centers around the Stone House Hotel on the wild windswept Irish Atlantic coast, where this particular winter week people are running away from something or seeking a new lease on life.  It is classic Maeve Binchy, with loveable characters, amusing situations, and charming descriptions of Ireland.  This is the author's last novel, which she finished shortly before her death in July 2012.

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Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, is a weekly event where bloggers open to a random page of their current reads and share a teaser from somewhere on that page--no spoilers allowed.

Here's my teaser from A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy:

"Winnie felt the room tilt around her.  She must speak this very moment, or else she had agreed to go on a week's holiday with this hateful woman.  But her throat was dry and she could not find her voice.  She felt herself nodding dumbly."  --p. 128, UK Edition

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

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First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #8 and Tuesday Teaser was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.