“The cherry blossoms had fallen, and the new leaves were already darkening.” Chapter 1: Introduction to the Makioka Family The novel opens with an introduction to the four […]
Billiards at Half-Past Nine
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Chapter 1: The Faehmel Family Reunion The novel opens on September 6, 1958, as Robert Faehmel, a reserved architect, […]
Radetzky March
“The world was still in order.” — Joseph Roth, Radetzky March Part One: The Rise of the Trotta Family The novel opens with the Battle of Solferino in […]
Before the Storm
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” — Theodor Fontane Chapter 1: The Setting The novel opens in the winter of 1812-1813 in rural Brandenburg, Prussia. […]
Buddenbrooks
“And the business—the firm—the shop!” he cried. “It is all nothing—dust and ashes—if the family goes to pieces!” Part One: The Buddenbrook Family The novel opens in 1835 […]
Medea and Her Children
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Chapter 1: The Family Gathering The novel opens with the arrival of Medea’s relatives at her home in Crimea […]
The Kukotsky Enigma
“Memory is a capricious and unreliable thing, but without it, we are nothing.” Chapter 1: The Professor’s World The novel opens with Pavel Kukotsky, a renowned gynecologist in […]
The White Guard
“And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” — Revelation 20:12 (Epigraph to The White Guard) Chapter […]
The House of the Spirits
“Barrabás came to us by sea…” — Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits Part One: The Early Years The novel begins with the eccentric Trueba family in […]
Song of Solomon
“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.” — Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon Chapter 1 The novel opens in 1931 with […]