Love from Boy

July 4, 2016
Roald Dahl’s transition from young schoolboy to prolific writer is perfectly captured in this delightful collection of letters edited by his authorized biographer, Sturrock (Storyteller: The Life of Roald Dahl). Each chapter covers one to four years, adding up to four decades. Most of the letters are written to Dahl’s mother, though some are to his sisters, and there’s a particularly poignant missive addressed to the widow of the RAF pilot who helped comfort Dahl after the writer’s plane crashed in the Libyan Desert during WWII. These letters allow the reader to watch Dahl grow up, and clarify how his life influenced his books. For example, his time at boarding school gave vivid life to Matilda, and his aviation experiences provided inspiration for James and the Giant Peach and The Minpins. But with typical British stoicism, he never expresses complaint or worry to his mother. It is not until she is 80 that he is able to convey candor and seek solace, relating the horrific experience of his first wife’s stroke and subsequent recovery. Coinciding with what would have been Dahl’s 100th birthday, this collection will delight fans of his fanciful books. Agent: Zoë Pagnamenta, Zoë Pagnamenta Agency.

July 15, 2016
A collection of letters from an endlessly fascinating writer and world traveler.Using Dahl's letters to his mother from age 8, when most British boys headed off to boarding school, until her death in 1967, British documentarian Sturrock (Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl, 2010) has picked just the right ones to show his character and his development into a fun-loving, globe-trotting adult. The only thing missing is some explanation of the schoolboy Briticisms--e.g., conkers, games of "fives" at school. In his letters to his mother, Dahl shared nearly everything, from his antics in school, good and bad, to his colonial life in Tanganyika, where life included a whole lot of drinking. The unfortunate loss of her letters to him causes Sturrock to assume and surmise her influence, but Dahl's ability as an author is obvious in the tales he passes on to her. In 1940, he crashed his plane in the Libyan desert. Badly burned and with a severe concussion, he took months to convalesce in Alexandria. Rejecting an offer of repatriation to Britain, he healed enough to return to flying in Greece, although not for long. His headaches and blackouts finished his air career. In a clear case of knowing the right people, he was posted to Washington, D.C., as assistant air attache in the British Embassy, where he met countless celebrities and even spent a weekend at Hyde Park. C.S. Forester asked him to write up a piece on the Royal Air Force, and when his publisher saw it, his career was launched. It was mostly smooth sailing after that, with articles in the Saturday Evening Post and a request from Walt Disney to come to California to write a book about the RAF. In addition to curating the letters, Sturrock provides a nice balance of context for each period. A fun collection for lovers of literature and travel.

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August 1, 2016

These never-before-published letters of Roald Dahl (1916-90) to his mother, Sofie Magdalene Dahl, edited by biographer Sturrock (Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl), span a period of 40 years from the author's boarding school experiences through his RAF days and time as diplomat and British spy. They show early glimpses of the imaginative description of Dahl's prose (e.g., The BFG; James and the Giant Peach) that so captivates young readers. Close to his widowed mother, Dahl believed himself the man of the family, concealing the disturbing details of school brutality and the dangers of war beneath a jokey breeziness. He writes of freshly painted toilet seats that stick to one's bottom, a master "with a face like a wild elderberry," and later the delights of combat flying. Having left school at 18, Dahl then fills his letters from Africa, where he worked for Shell Oil, with accounts of youthful high jinks. After he joined the RAF and crashed his plane in the desert, he minimized his injuries, never making known the life-threatening concussion and severe burns he sustained. VERDICT This highly recommended collection, documenting the evolution of a witty, dark, and complicated writer, will appeal to Dahl fans as well as readers seeking insight into mid-20th-century history.--Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2016
From the time he was 9 until he turned 49, the irrepressible Dahl, author of such modern children's classics as Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and James and the Giant Peach, penned more than 600 letters to his mother, who faithfully kept each one. Now, on the occasion of Dahl's centenary year, here is a generous selection of them. Together they serve as a kind of de facto autobiography, following the peripatetic Dahl from his school days to his work in Africa, from his training as a fighter pilot and his war service to his time as a diplomat in wartime Washington and his subsequent work in British Intelligence. The letters are arranged chronologically, with each section including a helpful contextual introduction by editor Sturrock. Adult Dahl fans will find much of interest here, especially implicit evidence of his evolution as a writer. We learn, for example, that Dahl credited his near-fatal wartime plane crash in the Libyan desert as a catalyst for his burgeoning desire to write, a desire so memorably realized in the years to come.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)