May 7, 2019

1st Line/1st Chapter

I’m linking up today with Vicki @ I’d Rather Be At The Beach who hosts a meme every Tuesday to share the First Chapter/First Paragraph of the book you are currently reading.

I’m pleased to share the first line and first full chapter of Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott (mature Middle Grade/Young Adult/Adult). I’ve read a few great reviews, and I’m eager to bring you my full review soon. If you appreciate free verse, you might love this!

From Goodreads: Paper Hearts is the story of survival, defiance, and friendship. Based on historical events about a group of girls who were slave laborers at the munitions factory in Auschwitz.

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links

Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, WW11, Holocaust, Survival, Poetry

1st Line/1st Chapter:

Through the village
once loved.
Eyes lowered
not shamed
footsteps steady
not faster
or slower
than before.

Ignored jeers.
Ignored curses,
Brudny Żyd!
Dirty Jew!
The clump of mud
thrown by Oleg Broz
who’d gone to the same school as
me
whose father worked at the
same bank as me.

I never
covered the accursed yellow
armband.
But I never
looked my tormentors in the eye.
I knew better
than to glare at an angry bull.
My throat grew thick
with swallowed tears
as I passed
the school
forbidden,
the synagogue
empty,
friends’ homes
vacant.

Clenched fists
hid in my pockets
as I passed
the German guards.

My village
had become
a nightmare
a ghetto.
A monster that held Jews
in its barbed-wire belly.
Let out only to work for slave wages,
or in death
exhaustion
disease
starvation.

I hurried home
looking past the barbed wire
to the horizon
the sunset
still beautiful.

~Paper Hearts, the first chapter (from Amazon)

---

---

QOTD: Are you intrigued? Do you love free verse?

Other favorite books in free verse include the titles found in this post.

---

Looking Ahead:

Come back Friday for my review of Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane, my favorite read of the year so far!

---

---

Sharing is Caring

Thank you for visiting and reading today! I’d be honored and thrilled if you choose to enjoy and follow along (see subscribe or follow option), promote, and/or share my blog. Every share helps us grow.

Find me at:
Twitter
Instagram
Goodreads
Pinterest

---

---

***Blogs posts may contain affiliate links. This means that at no extra cost to you, I can earn a small percentage of your purchase price.

Unless explicitly stated that they are free, all books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library.

Book Cover and author photo are credited to Amazon or an author’s (or publisher’s) website.