Book Beginnings on Friday (17)

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you'd like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.

This week I am sharing first sentences from two books, one which I recently finished (Someone Knows My Name) and one which I am currently reading.

Someone Knows My Name (The Book of Negroes) by Lawrence Hill

I seem to have trouble dying. By all rights, I should not have lived this long.

This is the story of Aminata Diallo who was kidnapped from her village and sold into slavery at the age of eleven. She survived the brutal crossing from Africa and became the slave of a South Carolina plantation owner. She is later sold again and eventually escapes, living in New York. Later she works for the British during the Revolutionary War, listing the names of freed Loyalist slaves in the Book of Negroes. Throughout the struggles of her life she never gives up her dream to one day return to her homeland.

Caleb + Kate by Cindy Martinusen

"Love is like death's cold grip crushing the beats from an innocent heart." A ripple of muted laughter rolls through the girls around me, and I bite my lip to keep from joining them.

In this modern love story inspired by Romeo and Juliet, Caleb and Kate are from two very different worlds. Kate's family is incredibly wealthy and Caleb's dad is a maintenance worker employed by Kate's dad. They continue to see each other even though their parents don't improve and there is a long standing quarrel between their families.