First Impressions

This week's competition, in which you have to identify a book from its opening sentence, is from a New Yorker's first novel about America and its mirror in the media:

"Then we came to the end of another dull and lurid year."

* Entries, including postal address, should be sent to First Impressions, The Times Higher , Admiral House, 66-68 East Smithfield, London E1W 1BX, faxed to 020 7782 3300 or e-mailed to theschat@thes.co.uk

The winner receives a £25 book voucher. The closing date is March 13.

The winner of last week's competition, who identified John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps , was C. J. Chapman of the department of mathematics at Keele University.

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