My Favourite Books Ranked By Best Opening Line
After years on contemplation, I finally figured out how to rank my top 10 favourite books! It often feels like picking a favourite child. I love them all for different reasons. But I can rank which has the best opening line 🖋️ Here they are counting down from 10 to number 1!
“Manfred, prince of Otranto, had one son and one daughter: the latter a most beautiful virgin, aged eighteen, was called Matilda”
Horace Walpole
10. The Castle of Otranto (1764)
This gothic novel is a wild, melodramatic ride. It is considered the first of its genre, leaning into the suspenseful storytelling and haunting descriptions. I remember laughing a lot because some of the characters were being silly and monologuing their hearts out. It is dense, but flows quickly.
“I tell you I cannot bear it! I shall do something desperate if this life is not changed soon.”
Louisa May Alcott
9. A Long Fatal Love Chase (1994)
Published over a hundred years after it was written by the famed Little Women author, A Long Fatal Love Chase was deemed too scandalous to release in 1866. Part gothic thriller, part romance, this book is delicious. I cannot say much about the plot without spoilers, but it does feel like a story that Jo March herself would pen.
“The artist is the creator of beautiful things.”
Oscar Wilde
8. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)
Oscar Wilde’s wit is as sharp as nails in this gothic commentary on beauty, society, art, and morality. Enchanted by his own portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty and while he remains ageless, his portrait changes, reflecting his true monstrosity. I need to give this another read. I remember loving it, being completely enthralled by its dark prose, but I’m blanking on specifics.
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
Daphne du Maurier
7. Rebecca (1938)
The fourth gothic novel on the list (are we noticing a trend yet?), Rebecca is a suspenseful masterpiece. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 Best Picture-Winning adaptation has long since been my favourite movie, so I was already familiar with the story by the time I read it, but I did know the ending had been changed to appeal to the Hollywood Code. I love both endings to be honest. This first line is said verbatim in the film and it gives me chills. Du Maurier crafts such vivid scenes, the reader is instantly transported.
“It was as black in the closet as old blood.”
Alan Bradley
6. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009)
11-year-old Flavia de Luce is a modern Nancy Drew, only wittier, cleverer, and much more defiant. Set in a small English hamlet in the 1950s, this cozy mystery series is delightful. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is the first of ten books in which young Flavia can’t help but be drawn to the scene of the crime. I love the small town setting with its quirky recurring characters and intriguing murders.
“In the middle of the ocean, there was a girl who lived upon a rock.”
Brandon Sanderson
5. Tress of the Emerald Sea (2023)
My favourite book of 2024, this standalone fantasy novel is a very fun read with comedic undertones equal to The Princess Bride that pokes fun at fairytale tropes. Sanderson’s brilliant world-building is top notch. Tress is the strong female underdog you root for from the very first page.
“Infant snow drifted down in gentle whorls, flakes as large as pancakes glinting silver as they fell.”
Tahereh Mafi
4. Whichwood (2017)
This middle-grade fantasy novel is the sequel to Furthermore, set in the same magical world, but focuses on a new character - Laylee - a girl whose job is to scrub the bodies of the dead and prepare their souls for the afterlife. Mafi creates a rich and luscious world through beautifully woven prose.
“No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine.”
Jane Austen
3. Northanger Abbey (1817)
Isn’t that opening line brilliant? Yet another gothic novel - well, kind of. Austen is definitely poking fun at the genre’s tropes throughout the story, even referencing classic gothic tales as Catherine is a lover of literature. I love a bookish character! Published posthumously, Northanger Abbey is my favourite Austen novel probably because of the gothic elements.
“It was Charles who called us the parasites.”
Daphne du Maurier
2. The Parasites (1949)
The Parasites follows the lives of three siblings who are not related by blood and their toxic relationships to one another. It was on page 2 that I realized the narrator is all three characters speaking as one. They will refer to themselves in the third person when speaking of a specific character, but also refer to themselves as ‘we’ throughout the story. They are indeed parasites, feasting off of each other. There is an eerie vibe to this story that is unsettling, but also fascinating.
“The sun was raining again.”
Tahereh Mafi
1. Furthermore (2016)
Mentioned earlier, Furthermore is a middle-grade fantasy novel that follows Alice, an outcast in her magical town, as she sets out in search of her missing father. It gives me Alice in Wonderland vibes, but more serious and bigger stakes. It is an exceptionally well crafted story. If Mafi ever returns to this magical world for a third time, I will be here for it!
