Which famous science fiction novel opens with the line, "It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen"?

It was George Orwell's book, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) which opens with the line, "It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen".

Arguably, this line is considered one of the most famous science fiction opening lines in literature. What makes this such a classic is the way it lulls you into thinking nothing is amiss until the very final word. Clocks don’t strike 13, this is a fact that we know and tell ourselves.

So, the full implications of the sentence are apparent. Here is a world where the very nature of time keeping itself has been redefined. Who wouldn’t want to know how and, more importantly, why? We as a nonparticipating observer truly do.

Orwell's novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, occupies an unique place in literature and is consistently acclaimed as one of the finest of the last 100 years.