Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #12

 

It's Friday . . . time to share excerpts from one of my current reads with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

This week's selection:

 

 

Beginning: When my twin brother and I were small children, we would take turns sitting on our grandfather's lap.  There he would grab the rope-like rolls of baby fat that would pool at our waists and bounce us on his knees, cooing, "Big belly, big belly, big belly."

 

Reading these opening sentences, I can clearly picture in my mind this delightful moment that demonstrates the special bond between grandparent and grandchildren.  I am interested in knowing this family's story.

 

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Page 56:  "And then he sees her, and seconds pass before he speaks because he doesn't want to frighten her, and because the sun through the open doorway catches the red in her hair and the pale beauty of the skin on her cheek and he is simply unable to open his mouth."

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Overview from barnesandnoble.com:  When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Aleppo, Syria, she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke, a crash course in nursing, and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language. It’s 1915, and Elizabeth has volunteered to help deliver food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian Genocide during the First World War. There she meets Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter. After leaving Aleppo and traveling into Egypt to join the British Army, he begins to write Elizabeth letters, realizing that he has fallen in love with the wealthy young American.

Years later, their American granddaughter, Laura, embarks on a journey back through her family’s history, uncovering a story of love, loss—and a wrenching secret that has been buried for generations.

 

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine

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Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #12 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.