# First and last lines of novels:  can you help identify these?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-and-last-lines-of-novels-can-you-help-identify-these/192855>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 4, 2003, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-and-last-lines-of-novels-can-you-help-identify-these/192855 "2003-08-04T09:22:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-and-last-lines-of-novels-can-you-help-identify-these/192855/1 "2003-08-04T09:22:02Z")

</div>

Can anyone help me to identify the books which begin or end as below:

First line of a novel-  
_“The girls stare in dusty dismay. Is this a wonderful surprise, Papa? asks Vanessa. Michel nods.”_

Last line of a novel-  
_“From the back seat of our black cab, I couldn’t see exactly where he was in those quiet suburban streets that stretched out in every direction. But the echo of those chimes rang in my head like a memory of childhood, or a dream of wedding bells.”_

Thanks all.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-and-last-lines-of-novels-can-you-help-identify-these/192855/2 "2003-08-05T09:45:40Z")

</div>

I hear the last line above is from an Issac Asimov novel. That’s the only clue I have so far.

Does that help anyone help me?