I’ll take Victorian London any day…even without Sherlock Holmes.

As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.
JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES

This month I snagged from the New Release shelf:

The Dreadfuls by A. Rae Dunlap

I admit, I do judge a book by its cover now and then. The gorgeous sketch of a top hat and eyeball with thick lashes are accentuated by a red teardrop; plus, a lamppost and dark figure of a man are reflected inside the eyeball. It’s a fitting impression when the book’s set in Victorian London as Jack the Ripper stalks the streets. Truly, mystery’s afoot in A. Ray Dunlap’s The Dreadfuls!

The first paragraph is full of melodramatic details for describing the reform school where narrator Dell must go because she stole books to replace those burned by her uncle. After all the hail, thunder, and lightning in the mildew-infested darkened halls, the next paragraph tells readers the place is sparkling clean and unfathomably cheery. The two paragraphs together provide not only an effective sense of the setting, but of the narrator’s love of the macabre as well. The fact she wraps up her description with the one-sentence paragraph “It was utterly hateful” says it all. 😊

By the end of five pages, we’ve not gotten much about London (or Jack the Ripper), as the school is the primary setting for the first act of this story. It’s the place Dell needs to learn about, and quickly, if she means to escape.

And she does indeed mean to escape. We learn from her bedraggled aunt that Dell repeatedly escaped her boarding school, and no governess wants to work with Dell for long. Her twin sister had been Dell’s mom, and Dunlap wisely commits just one paragraph to sharing that Dell’s introspection. It also helps Dunlap uses the wait-time for the headmaster to arrive, so it makes sense narratively that the protagonist’s mind can wander a little.

Another good storytelling standby is information through dialogue, and Dunlap equips that well here. By the end of five pages we are in the midst of Headmaster Graves (great name, by the way) questioning Dell about why she’s there, while Dell’s aunt frequently interrupts with snippets of Dell’s backstory. Sure, we’re not in London or looking at Jack the Ripper yet, but there was foreshadowing of Ripper with the disemboweled rat spotted on their walk from the carriage into the school. It’s enough to have that comparison between the dirty and dangerous London streets with the clean and bright reform school to engage readers in wondering if that school is really that bright and cheery underneath, and if Dell is really as impossible and irredeemable as her aunt declares.

If you’re a fan of dark historical fiction (and are especially in the mood for some Summerween reading) this could be the perfect adventure for you.

Let’s see what next month’s find will teach us, shall we?

Coming up, I’ve got one last trip to camp, interviews, resource recommendations, and more. Stay tuned!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!