First Chapter ~ First Paragraph (November 8)

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book she decided to read based on the opening. Feel free to grab the banner and play along.

This week my opening paragraph comes from Another Day Gone by Eliza Graham, a dual time line fiction set across three generations.

Blurb

Coventry, 1939. Days before the outbreak of World War II, a terrorist bomb explodes on a busy street, killing and maiming innocent civilians. A man is hanged on the evidence given by a young witness. As time goes on, the witness doubts her recollection of events, but her testimony has already had far-reaching consequences.
Over sixty years later, in the wake of the 7/7 London bombings, Sara returns to her childhood home to find that her sister, Polly, missing for more than ten years, has finally come back too. Why now—and where has she been? The sisters grew up under the fierce protection of their nanny, Bridie, herself haunted by a family secret. And there are other secrets that Bridie has kept from the two girls she brought up as her own. Polly’s return sets in motion events that will stretch the women’s fragile bond to its breaking point.
Set against three generations of violence and retribution, Another Day Gone reveals the enduring consequences of a single mistaken memory. NetGalley

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First Chapter ~ First Paragraph ~ Intro

PROLOGUE

Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital, 6 p.m., 25 August 1939

The girl with the cut face sitting up in the hospital bed closed her eyes for a moment. Probably hoping the ward might disappear and she’d find herself back on Broadgate, shopping for frocks or stockings. The sergeant watched fear and confusion sweep her young face as she opened her eyes and looked at her plastered left wrist. From the corner of the side-room a distressed sigh came from the girl’s mother.
‘Did you see anything before the bomb went off, miss?’ the sergeant asked. ‘Anything at all out of the usual?’
‘Just the pavement sweeper ad the shoppers.’
‘You didn’t notice a bicycle on Broadgate?’
‘Oh.’ She sat up grimacing with the effort. ‘I saw a ma with a tradesman bike.’
‘And this man you saw left the bicycle outside Burton’s store?’

I’m going to do my usual and ask you if you’d keep reading – while preparing this post, I got totally distracted and read three chapters straight! Although this excerpt is about setting the scene in the earliest part of the story the next chapters take us swiftly from 1992 to 2005.

So… would you keep reading? Please leave your thoughts in the comments box below.