Literature quiz
Famous opening lines of novels
Every one of these sentences starts a classic novel. Read the line and pick the book it opens.
- Format
- Pick the answer
- Items
- 14 questions
- Limit
- None
- Level
- Medium
- Checked
- 2026.10.03
- Questions
- 14
- Options
- 4 each
- Time limit
- None
- Click an option, or press 1 to 4.
- A short note follows every answer.
- Enter moves to the next question.
- Pause whenever you like (Esc). The board hides while the clock is stopped.
About this quiz
A first line has to make a reader want the second. All fourteen of these openings come from classic novels, quoted from the books themselves.
- Call me Ishmael is three words long; the opening sentence of A Tale of Two Cities runs to well over a hundred.
- Three of the fourteen are by Charles Dickens and two are by Jane Austen.
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn names its own author in its second sentence.
More quizzes like this
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Famous opening lines match: line to novel Thirteen famous first sentences, from Call me Ishmael to the best of times. Read the line and click the novel it opens. Literature / Pick the match / 13 to match | Literature | Pick the match | 13 | 2026.10.03 |
| 02 | Jane Austen's novels Name the six completed novels of Jane Austen, from Sense and Sensibility in 1811 to Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. Type them in any order. Literature / Type them all / 6 answers | Literature | Type them all | 6 | 2026.10.03 |
| 03 | The Big Read: Britain's 21 best loved novels In 2003 the BBC's Big Read asked Britain for its best loved novel. Name the 21 that topped the poll; the place and the author of each are shown. Literature / Type them all / 21 answers | Literature | Type them all | 21 | 2026.10.03 |