First Impressions

This week's competition, in which you must identify a book from its opening sentence, is from a novel about an ambitious Russian civil servant:

"Through the gate of a hostelry in a provincial capital that will remain nameless rolled a small, rather handsome britska on springs, of the kind in which bachelors travel..."

* Entries, including postal address, should be sent to: First Impressions, The Times Higher , Admiral House, 66-68 East Smithfield, London E1W 1BXJ

Fax: 020 7782 3300; email: theschat@thes.co.uk

The winner receives a half-case of wine. (Please include a telephone number to arrange delivery.) The closing date is August 9.

The winner of last week's competition - who identified Robert Tressell's The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - is David Clover of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies.

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