'I was born in the city of Bombay... once upon a time. No, that won't do' - which novel, first published back in 1981, do these lines start?
'Like most people I lived for a long time with my mother and father. My father liked to watch the wrestling, my mother liked to wrestle; it didn't matter what.' Which novel, set in northern England, is this?
'If on a sunny day you climb the steep path leading up from the little wooden bridge still referred to around here as "the Bridge of Hesitation", you will not have to walk far before the roof of my house becomes visible between the tops of two gingko trees.' Which Kazuo Ishiguro novel begins this way?
'She stands in the garden where she has been working and looks into the distance. She has sensed a shift in the weather.' Which famously filmed novel begins like this?
'For a man of his age, fifty-two, divorced, he has, to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well.' Which 1999 novel by an African writer begins with these lines?
'May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and humid. The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees.' Which 1997 novel starts with this lyrical opening?
And which novel by Peter Carey begins simply: 'If there was a bishop, my mother would have him to tea'?
'Peter Crowther's book on the election was already in the shops. It was called Landslide! , and the witty assistant at Dillon's had arranged the window in a scaled-down version of that natural disaster.' Which politically-themed novel starts with these lines?
'Miri's husband was shouting in his sleep, not words that she could recognize but simple, blurting fanfares of distress. When, at last, she lit a lamp to discover what was tormenting him, she saw his tongue was black - scorched and sooty.' Which of Jim Crace's novels begins like this?
'Woooooooo-hooooooo what a fall what a soar what a plummet what a dash into dark into light what a plunge what a glide thud crash what a drop what a rush what a swoop what a fright' Which Booker shortlisted novel is this the very distinctive opening to?
