Darrow's Nightmare by Nelson Johnson & The Image by Steven Faulkner -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNING ON FRIDAYS

This is my birthday weekend so part of the festivities is a Book Beginning two-fer! These two books have been on my stack of books for a while and both of them look terrific. The lawyer one particularly appeals to me, since I am a lawyer myself. 

Do you have any special plans for this Valentine's weekend? Thanks for kicking it off with Book Beginnings on Fridays! Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, or just a book you want to highlight. 

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

From Darrow's Nightmare:

She hadn't bargained for this, yet she dealt with it as best she could: standing over a coal-burning stove 'round the clock, boiling syringes to drain an incision, and injecting codeine to ease his pain were frightful tasks she was forced to learn on the fly.

-- from the Prologue, "Labor's Lawyer," in Darrow's Nightmare: The Forgotten Story of America's Most Famous Trial Lawyer, Los Angeles 1911-1913 by Nelson Johnson. 

In 1911, Clarence Darrow went to Los Angeles to represent two union agitators arrested for bombing the LA Times newspaper office. Shortly after a plea deal was announced, Darrow was arrested for bribing a juror and faced his own criminal trial. 

This nonfiction history book reads like an exciting, fictional courtroom drama, which you would expect from the author of Boardwalk Empire.   

From The Image:

A bearded monk reclines on one elbow in the shadow of tall pine trees near the gate of an old stone Maronite monastery built on a remote ridge of the southern Lebanese mountains. 

-- The Image: A Novel in Pieces by Steven Faulkner. Three linked stories make up this short novella about a centuries-old piece of art hidden in a cave in Lebanon. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please link to your book beginning post, not your blog or social media home page. If you share on SM, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Darrow's Nightmare:

By jumping into a fight among the federal government, a national union and the railroads, Darrow's profile skyrocketed. Though his argument to the US Supreme Court in the appeal of In Re Debs was rejected in the spring of 1895, at the age of thirty-seven, his name was now being spoken among the powerful players of both labor and capital throughout the nation.

From The Image:

Once, when Israeli jets screamed over the valley, Ibrahim had ducked under a ledge and found a cave overgrown with bushes and vines. He had torn through the vines and entered the cave.