First Line Friday

Happy Friday! It's time for First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books.

It's time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line. Today on First Line Friday, I'm featuring a book from one of my many TBR piles, A Cup of Dust by Susie Finkbeiner. I had the pleasure of meeting her at a conference a few months ago. This book is about the Dust Bowl. I've only read one other book about this topic, so I'm looking forward to reading this book.

And the first line is ...

As soon as I was off the porch and out of Mama's sight, I pushed the scuffed-up, hole-in-the-soles Mary Janes off my feet.

About the book...

Ten-year-old Pearl doesn't understand a lot of things--why her sister's brain doesn't work right, why the preacher yells so much, why Jesus and the president seem to have forgotten all about Oklahoma. But she does know who she is: Pearl Spence, daughter of the esteemed town sheriff. Generous and always ready to help in a crisis, the Spences bring hope to this desolate town, and Pearl is proud of her family. She knows who she is, she knows she is loved, and even in unrelenting hardship, life feels secure. Not even the dust that sweeps incessantly across Red River can quench her hopes and dreams.

But someone else seems to know who she is, too, and he makes Pearl uneasy. From the moment the mysterious hobo steps off the train and stares at her with his cold blue eyes, Pearl's secure world begins to unravel. How does Eddie know her name? Why does he seem to hover everywhere she turns? And why does he act like he knows something about her family that she doesn't? Pearl is determined to avoid him, but Eddie is bent on forcing his way into her life and disrupting her family's shaky tranquility. The more he badgers Pearl, the greater her confusion, until the storm within her rivals the swirling of dust and dirt without.

Let me know the first line of the book closest to you and then head over to Hoarding Books to see who else is participating.