First impressions

This week's First Impressions, the competition in which you have to identify a book from its opening sentence, comes from an early 19th-century autobiography that was certainly published but whether it was damned is another matter:

"I shall not say why and how I became, at the age of fifteen, the mistress of the Earl of Craven."

The winner receives a £20 book token and the closing date is February 24.

Entries should be sent 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 of last week's competition, who identified John Updike's Rabbit, Run , is V. Mistry of Loughborough.