Fabulous First Page: Memoir Edition

This memoir gets it right from page one!

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Fabulous First Page

This memoir was written by one of the guests on my new podcast, The Long Road to Publishing (found wherever you get your podcasts, and btw have you seen my latest reel?!).

I picked up this memoir several years ago, before I knew I would one day interview the author, and it was one of those books where I could tell, from page one, that I would go anywhere with this narrator; they had captured me right off the bat, and I would stay up late into the night to learn their story.

That’s the power of a good first page.

Not only does this book do a good job with the first page overall, but it also does a good job specifically as a memoir. But before I reveal the book, I’ll start with a reminder of all the things a first page should try to do:

A first page should:

• Hook the reader right away and invite them into the story. (Of course, this depends on the type of reader you’re trying to attract. What hooks a sci-fi reader might be different from what hooks a romance-reader.)

• Set the scene and the overall tone of the novel.

• Introduce a main character (and/or introduce a main setting or theme).

• Hint at a conflict, situation, mystery/secret, or question.

• Set reader expectations. (For example, a funny book should be funny on page 1; a scary book should have hints of spookiness of page one.)

For more on first pages, check out:

• This post about first pages fromKarin Gillespie.

• This post on Jane Friedman’s blog about first pages.

• All the “Books with Hooks” episodes of the podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing (

  The Shit About Writing Team
  does query and first page critiques)

• All my other Fabulous First Page showcases!

Now, without further ado, let’s find out the name of this memoir and read it’s fabulous first page…