Beginning patiently ~ or not

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver ~ by E. L. Konigsburg, 1973, children's fiction

"During her lifetime Eleanor of Aquitaine had not been a patient woman.  While she had lived, she had learned to bide her time, but biding one's time is a very different thing from patience.  After she had died, and before she had arrived in Heaven, it had been necessary for Eleanor to learn some patience.  Heaven wouldn't allow her Up until she had.  But there were times, like today, when she wasn't sure whether she had really learned any  patience at all or whether she had simply become too tired to be quarelsome."

You may remember that all my books from the library this week were about Eleanor of Aquitaine.  I had this one at the top of my library loot list for a reason —  because it's by an excellent author.  This first paragraph does indeed set the stage and invite me into the story, which begins (obviously) after the main character has died.  Very unusual, huh?  I look forward to getting into this one.

If you want to share the first lines of a book you are reading, click on the link and visit Katy at A Few More Pages.  (Today's list.)

Browse there to find interesting books for your own reading list.  And don’t forget that Katy and all the contributors to this meme (including me) love comments.