Book Beginnings – 12th February 2021

Book beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader and it is a chance to share the first sentence or so of a book you’ve reading, about to read or recently read.

This week the book I’d like to share is Wool by Hugh Howley. This is was one of my ’12 friends, 12 recommendations’ books, which I am planning to buddy read with a friend in February after our current read. After reading the section below, I cannot wait to dive in…

The children were playing while Holston climbed to his death; he could hear them squeling as only happy children do. While they thundered about frantically above, Holston took his time, each step methodical and ponderous, as he wound huis way around and around the spiral staircase, old boots ringing out on metal treads.

The treads, like his father’s boots, showed signed of wear. Paint clung to them in feeble chips, mostly in the corners and undersides, where they were safe. Traffic elsewhere on the staircase sent dust shivering off in small clouds. Holston could feel the vibrations in the railing, which was worn down to the gleaming metal. That always amazed him: how centuries of bare palms and shuffling feet could wear down solid steel. One molecule at a time, he supposed. Each life might wear away a single layer, even as the silo wore away that life.