Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
This is my choice of the day:
Smoke by Dan Vyleta
p. 286 ‘Our captain wants to be a gentleman,’ I say to Poppy, watching van Huysmans mince around the deck.
‘A gentleman!’ Poppy replies enthusiastically, not catching my tone. ‘Imagine it! Clean sheets, nobody cussing you out or even raising their voices. No pushing and shoving. A soft world.’
I snort. ‘Always thinking before you speak. Inspecting your bedding in the morning. Keeping your farts in, lest they trigger something. A life lived with your arsehole clamped. Never letting rip.’
But the boy is adamant, forgets for a moment that I am his senior and his prophet, his shipside god.
‘What’s so great about coarseness and dirt?’ he asks.
And when I don’t answer (for he’s hit upon a point, I suppose) he adds, now wet in his eye. ‘They’ll go to heaven, sir. And you and I shan’t.’
BLURB: Imagine a world in which every bad thought you had was made visible. Where anger, hatred and envy appeared as thick smoke pouring from your body and soot on your skin. With society controlled by an elite who have learned to tame their darkest desires. Thomas and Charlie are friends at a boarding school near Oxford, where the children of the rich and powerful are trained to be future leaders. Charlie is naturally good, but Thomas’s father was accused of murder and Thomas fears that the same evil lies coiled inside him. Then, on a trip to London – a forbidden city shrouded in darkness – they learn that all is not as it appears. So begins a quest to find the truth, and to learn what lies beneath this world of smoke, soot and ash…
I’m just over halfway through this intriguing book. The premise is a great one and I’ve really enjoyed the start – right now we’re enmeshed in the middle of the plot with it all going to hell in a handbasket. I’ll be reviewing it in due course.
Great teaser. I haven’t heard of this book but I like the premise and it sounds like one I would like.
Will be interested to hear what you think when you finish. Is it part of a series?
Thank you Ali:). No, as far as I can make out, it’s a standalone. But it is quite a hefty read and there is a lot going on in here. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the way it presents the premise and then digs below the surface to explore how the presence of smoke as split people along the class divide.
It definitely sounds enjoyable and yay to standalone, I’m refusing to add any more series to my tbr 🙂
That is very sensible, given the struggle I’m having to clear my series:)
Great teaser, and the book looks very interesting indeed. Hope you’ll post a review when you’re done? Here’s mine: http://earthianhivemind.net/2017/09/12/teaser-tuesday-12-september/
I’ll definitely be reviewing this one – the blurb on the front claims that it fills the gap left by Harry Potter and His Dark Materials trilogy and actually though the writing style is denser than both, I can see what they mean. It is all about examining how to deal with negative feelings if they become visible and how society might have to cope if such a thing came to pass.
I’ve always been curious about this book, I can’t wait to read your review:-)
I might have know you would have this one on your radar as you invariably are surrounded by interesting reads, Tammy:))
I bet some people would be shocked when it happened to them. Lovely cover and I like the dialogue.
My TT from Last Chance Motel
Wow. That sounds really intriguing – in a frightening yet curious way. I’ll definitely check out your review of this when it posts.
I picked it up at the library, attracted by that very cool cover… It’s certainly different and will take a bit of processing before I sit down and write the review.
Not a book I would normally pick up…but then, seeing your blurb and your excerpts, I am captivated. Which just proves you can’t judge a book by its cover. Thanks for sharing and for intriguing me. Here’s mine: “MY ABSOLUTE DARLING”
It is a really unusual, enjoyable read, Laurel. Many thanks for swinging by:)
This is a new book to me but I love the dialogue and the very different interpretations of being a gentleman!
It is a really intriguing, different read, Katherine. Many thanks for swinging by:)
Going to hell in a hand basket – I’ll look out for your review.
Lynn 😀
🙂
Here’s mine from The Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly:
This comes from a section covering 1957-1958 and is about Caroline, one of the three Lilac Girls.
“Mother and I traveled half the globe once we finally left Paris after the war (WWII). India and Italy. A cruise up the British coast to Scotland.
The first thing I did when Mother and I landed back in New York for good was to help organize that year’s April in Paris Ball. It was an elaborate fundraiser that supported any number of charities, French and American, including my Ravensburg Rabbits Committee.” One of the other Lilac Girls is a Pole who was experimented on by the Nazis in the camps.
“It had been a decade since Anise Posted-Vinay had introduced me to the cause, and Mother and I had grown terribly attached, corresponding regularly with the Polish women.”
The third Lilac girl is a young doctor who helped operate on the “Rabbits,” and is facing the trials for
war criminals, spared from hanging, but serving a long sentence in prison.
I am anxiously waiting for the three Lilac Girls to meet.
As ever, you have selected an interesting, worthwhile read, Rae. I look forward to hearing how you get on with this one and many thanks for sharing:))x
This teaser made me chuckle hehe
Thanks for stopping by!
Colletta
You’re welcome, Colletta:) Glad this one made you laugh…
Hey there 🙂 I actually went to boarding school for most of my childhood and adolescent years (grade 3-12). I just wrote a post about my experience in boarding school so that part jumped out at me 😀 loved your post!
Thank you for popping in Dawn. Hopefully your boarding school experiences are better than the ones in this book:).