Here we go with the third installment of Spot the Classic.
Every day I will post three passages of fiction in English: one from a classic twentieth century novel or short story, and one each from fiction that is independently published, and traditionally published.
Your job is to decide which one is the classic.
Any comments correctly spoiling the answer with a title and author will be held until the commenting period is over.
Leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for an Amazon gift card. I will give away a gift card after 10 different people have commented. You can improve your chances by commenting to more than one post.
UPDATE for commenters: I will post a new Spot the Classic either after 3 days, or after we get at least 2 comments. You can always comment @TrueNorthWrite on Twitter if you got here from there.
And by the way, if you Google the answer, let me know. The point is to read and appreciate; getting it right is second.
Answers and commentary tomorrow.
#1 Vianne joined them on the dirt road in front of their home. It was barely wide enough for an automobile. Beyond it stretched acres of hay-fields, the green studded here and there with red poppies and blue cornflowers. Forests grew in patches. In this corner of the Loire Valley, fields were more likely to be growing hay than grapes. Although less than two hours from Paris by train, it felt like a different world altogether. Few tourists visited, even in the summer.
#2 The hotel and its bright tan prayer beach of a rug were one. In the early morning the distant image of Cannes, the pink and cream of old fortifications, the purple Alp that bounded Italy, were cast across the water and lay quavering in the ripples and rings sent up by sea plants through the clear shallows. Before eight a man came down to the beach in a blue bathrobe and with much preliminary application to his person of the chilly water, and much grunting and loud breathing, floundered a minute in the sea.
#3 Madeleine carried a wicker basket as she walked along a narrow forested area at the edge of a cliff that overlooked the sea. Mechanically she stopped and picked up another mushroom and placed it in the basket next to two round balls of dirt hiding black truffles. She raised the basket to her face and smelled the strong aroma, trying to focus on her tasks and enjoy a few moments away from the restaurant and the worried looks of her parents.
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