How do you play Opening Lines?

Read the opening sentence and choose the novel it belongs to. Look for the narrator, setting and tone as clues. A remembered first sentence can help, but a line can also be a starting point for finding a new book to read.

When do the daily book games change?

New puzzles arrive at midnight UTC. That may be morning, afternoon or evening in your time zone. The date on the game identifies the puzzle everyone is playing.

Can I play without an account?

You can play the daily games as a guest. Sign in if you want to keep your streaks across devices, and use the archive links when you want an earlier puzzle. Avoid posting an answer where people who have not played will see it.

Secondhand · Well-read · Much loved

Creasy Spines

“Every crease is a story.”

Vol. I · No. 292Monday, 19 October 2026Today’s edition

Opening Lines #69 · Thursday, 8 October 2026

Opening Lines

Five first sentences from public-domain classics. Which book does each one open?

Replaying an archived puzzle. Play today’s

Line 1

“On the pleasant banks of the Garonne, in the province of Gascony, stood, in the year 1584, the chateau of Monsieur St. Aubert.”

North and SouthElizabeth GaskellThe Mysteries of UdolphoAnn RadcliffeOn the Origin of SpeciesCharles DarwinAnna KareninaLeo Tolstoy

Line 2

“‘Yes, of course, if it’s fine tomorrow,’ said Mrs. Ramsay.”

My ÁntoniaWilla CatherThe Jungle BookRudyard KiplingTo the LighthouseVirginia WoolfThe RepublicPlato

Line 3

“To the door of an inn in the provincial town of N. there drew up a smart britchka—a light spring-carriage of the sort affected by bachelors, retired lieutenant-colonels, staff-captains, land-owners possessed of about a hundred souls,”

Dead SoulsNikolai GogolAdventures of Huckleberry FinnMark TwainThe Turn of the ScrewHenry JamesThe Importance of Being EarnestOscar Wilde

Line 4

“The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child.”

MiddlemarchGeorge EliotGitanjaliRabindranath TagoreThe Magic MountainThomas MannThe Turn of the ScrewHenry James

Line 5

“One dollar and eighty-seven cents.”

The Gift of the MagiO. HenryDraculaBram StokerThe House of MirthEdith WhartonO Pioneers!Willa Cather

Archive · Your stats · First lines are from works published before 1930.

A few playing notes

How do you play Opening Lines?: Read the opening sentence and choose the novel it belongs to. Look for the narrator, setting and tone as clues. A remembered first sentence can help, but a line can also be a starting point for finding a new book to read.
When do the daily book games change?: New puzzles arrive at midnight UTC. That may be morning, afternoon or evening in your time zone. The date on the game identifies the puzzle everyone is playing.
Can I play without an account?: You can play the daily games as a guest. Sign in if you want to keep your streaks across devices, and use the archive links when you want an earlier puzzle. Avoid posting an answer where people who have not played will see it.