First Impressions

This week's First Impressions, the competition in which you have to identify a book from its opening sentence, comes from a doctor who defied a dictator:

"One hot spring evening, just as the sun was going down, two men appeared at Patriarch's Ponds."

Entries should be submitted to First Impressions, The THES,Admiral House, 66-68 East Smithfield, London E1 9XY, faxed to 0171 782 3300 or emailed to theschat@thes.co.uk

The winner receives a Pounds 20 book token and the closing date is August 12.The winner of last week's competition, who identified Robert Graves's Goodbye to All That, is Diane Setterfield of Great Shelford in Cambridge.