Some of the best lines in literature come right at the end, finishing the novel with words that may stay with the reader forever.
Powerful and impactful, or reflecting and thoughtful, a closing line is as important as the opening line.
We have chosen some of our favourite final parting shots from novelists, classic and modern, that have stayed with us after we have closed the book.
If you haven’t read the novels, watch out for spoilers and scroll by the image of the cover quickly.
1. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
“The eyes and faces all turned themselves towards me, and guiding myself by them, as by a magical thread, I stepped into the room.”
2. Animal Farm by George Orwell
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
4. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
“But I don’t think us feel old at all. And us so happy. Matter of fact, I think this the youngest us ever felt.”
5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
“I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath, and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth.”
6. The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman
“I went on my way. A stormy wind rattled the scrap-iron in the ruins, whistling and howling through the charred cavities of the windows. Twilight came on. Snow fell from the darkening, leaden sky.”
7. The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
“Of course, it’s only superstition, just for fun. But see how fast the smoke rises–oh, even faster when we laugh, lifting our hopes, higher and higher.”
8. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
“Again and again I called out for Midori from the dead centre of this place that was no place.”
9. Before I Die by Jenny Downham
“Light falls through the window, falls onto me, into me. Moments. All gathering towards this one.”
10. Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada
“Because it is written that you reap what you sow, and the boy had sown good corn.”
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