Whether it is taking a troublesome cow to be mated with a prime bull; dealing with a rat-infested hayrick; learning the ways and means of maggot farming; or describing the fine art of poaching pheasants using nothing but raisins and sleeping pills, Roald Dahl brings his stories of everyday country folk and their strange passions wonderfully to life. Lacing each tale with dollops of humour and adding a sprinkling of the sinister, Roald Dahl ensures that this collection is brimful of the sweet mysteries of life.
'All the stories sparkle with vibrant characters, humorous dialogue and sly rustic lore and cunning' Sunday Express
Going Solo
'It isn't often one gets the chance to save a person's life. It gave me a good feeling for the rest of the day.'
'They did not think for one moment that they would find anything but a burnt-out fuselage and a charred skeleton, and they were astounded when they came upon my still-breathing body lying in the sand nearby.'
In 1938 Roald Dahl was fresh out of school and bound for his first job in Africa, hoping to find adventure far from home. However, he got far more excitement than he bargained for when the outbreak of the Second World War led him to join the RAF. His account of his experiences in Africa, crashing a plane in the Western Desert, rescue and recovery from his horrific injuries in Alexandria, flying a Hurricane as Greece fell to the Germans, and many other daring deeds, recreates a world as bizarre and unnerving as any he wrote about in his fiction.
'His account of life as a fighter pilot in the Western Desert and in Greece has the thrilling intensity and the occasional grotesquences of his fiction' Sunday Times
Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories
'The best ghost stories don't have ghosts in them. At least you don't see the ghost... you can feel it'.
Fourteen ghost stories chosen by the master of the macabre, Roald Dahl.
Who better to choose the ultimate spine-chillers than Roald Dahl, whose own sinister stories have teased and twisted the imagination of millions?
Here are fourteen of his favourite ghost stories, including Sheridan Le Fanu's 'The Ghost of a Hand', Edith Wharton's 'Afterward', Cynthia Asquith's 'The Corner Shop' and Mary Treadgold's 'The Telephone'.
'One of the most widely read and influential writers of our generation'
The Times