One of my favourite opening sentences from a novel:
‘It was a bright cold day in April. and the clocks were striking thirteen.’
Gorgeous. Deceptively pedestrian start, then a smack in the face with something one recognizes — clocks striking the hour — yet not. Thirteen hundred hours is military time-keeping, not civilian time-keeping; the practice must be widespread because the clocks everywhere are striking thirteen. In fourteen words, two balanced co-orodinate clauses — and this sentence has to be a compound sentence, balance yet knocking off balance — Orwell SHOWS us we’re in a strange and perhaps threatening place. (We quickly learn that yes, this is a threatening place.)
Orwell’s prose is a joy.
The day Winston first writes in his diary is — he thinks — 4 April 1984.
I have a copy of the new Penguin edition pictured here. Brilliant cover design. The more you read and handle the book, the more the black censor’s bars fade.
michelle butler hallett 
It is a great opening for sure. Hope you and David and the family are doing well, Michelle.
Thanks, Lee. And you and yours, too.