The novel is The Egg and I, by Betty Macdonald
The synopsis: Betty’s new husband Bob has an epiphany and decides that it is his life’s calling to become a chicken farmer. In his epiphanial enthusiasm, Bob buys an abandoned farm in the wilds of Washington State, and proceeds to start a chicken ranch with all the knowledge and experience that city life has endowed him.The opening lines:A) When my husband Bob came home to tell me he was buying a chicken ranch in Washington, my first thought was, "Is it close enough to the White House to sell them eggs for the Easter Egg roll?"
B) Now I can tell you with great certainty which came first, it was the egg.
C) As the first glimpse of morning enveloped the eastern horizon Betty realized being already awake meant that autumn in New York would be soon upon them.
D) When I vowed to love, honor and obey my husband, little did I know that this meant that one day, I’d be getting up at the crack of dawn to look at the tail-end of a chicken.
E) Along with teaching us that lamb must be cooked with garlic and that a lady never scratches her head or spits, my mother taught my sisters and me that it is a wife’s duty to see that her husband is happy in his work.
F) I remember it was the hottest day of the year so far, and when Bob was late that Friday I just knew right away something was up – he was always early on Fridays, but he breezed in over an hour late with a strange little breathy whistle and a fixed look of concentration crinkling his brow.
G) It seemed reasonable to Bob that high egg counts would be ensured by equipping each laying hen with her own rooster.
H) "You never can tell what's gonna happen in this life", my Mama always said--and she sure was right.
I) I was never really rural by nature, but mamma raised a few hens in her day.
J) Bob had done his research and had settled on the Rhode Island Red, which, he had learned, was a robust breed, excellent for egg-production, and yet also suitable for meat, and best of all, he liked the sound of it.
K) At age plump six I marched home from an important tea party given by my dear friend Victoria Willington who was eight and lived up the hill in a big brownstone with an English garden and a pool; and with a jaunty toss of my golden locks I declared to my startled father and mother that I was and always had been a plutocrat and demanded to know why they had been keeping me captive and just what in Jumping Jesus had they done with my real parents?
L) When my newly married socialite mother went with Daddy to his new engineering job in Telluride, she was unaware that she had started not only a baby, but a family tradition as well.
M) The bag of feed corn was getting lighter every day.
N) If I ever thought the phrase "eggs over easy" was a contradiction in terms it wasn't during my days as a waitress at the Third St. Cafe.
O) The notion of becoming chicken farmers really did seem like a bad idea at the time.
P) Chickens we bought in the grocery store –- already plucked, and if you cajoled the butcher, split into parts.
What say you? P.S. I am not naming those who submitted opening lines. Through some power that amazes me, some of you can figure out who wrote things by the tone of the writing so I'm giving you no extra hints by giving the names.
EDIT: Ooops. Forgot to say...polls will be open until Sunday, April 9th. OP
