1. “It was a bright cold day in april, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” -1984 ,George Orwell.
April is full of hope as spring is in the air with a crisp cold under a promising blue sky but by then writing ‘and the clocks were striking thirteen’ as we know that 13 is supposed to be an unlucky number. It shows the irony that in an atmosphere of hope and youth (spring), there is however a problem: the time is past the deadline so anything that is hoped for can no longer be achieved.

2. “Hale knew, before he had been in Brighton three hours, that they meant to murder him.” -Brighton Rock.
This starting sentence pre-emts a murder that we expect to happen later on in the book. Brighton tends to be perceived as a happy place, a holiday destiniation and not somewhere where you would expect a murder. This creates a contrast by having a negative thing happen in a positive place. This hooks the readers as it makes us want to find the answers to questions we may be wondering such as: ‘Who is ‘they’?’ ‘How does Hale know?’ ‘Who gets murdered, why and how?

3. “Last Night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” - Rebecca.
The author uses the word dreamt which makes us immediately wonder what is so special about this place that it is part of a dream- it makes us intrigued to know what Manderley is and what happened there or what about it makes it such a memory. The author also tells us that she has been to Manderley before as she writes ‘again’ this sparks more questions like: ‘When and why has she been before?’ ‘What has happened there?’ all these factors make us want to read on.

4. “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man, in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” - Pride and Prejudice
This line is a