Description

Book of the Week on Radio 4, and in the Observer, Sunday Times, Daily Mail and The Week

‘Riveting, and immaculately written’ Sunday Telegraph

‘A superb psychological study of a literary genius’ Business Post

‘A rounded picture… and gets to Dahl’s flawed, human core’ Country Life

‘Crisply done and well-judged’ TLS

A brand-new biography of Roald Dahl, re-evaluating the received narrative surrounding the life of the much-loved author and creator of numerous iconic literary characters – from one of our finest contemporary biographers.

Roald Dahl was one of the world’s greatest storytellers. He considered his vocation to be as bold and exciting as an explorer’s and, in his writing for children, he was able to tap into a child’s viewpoint throughout his life. He crafted tales that were exotic in scenario, frequently invested with a moral, and filled with vibrant characters that endure in the public imagination to the present day.

Publisher Review

Devotes a large chunk of his book to Dahl's Norwegian family and schooldays; their combination of warmth, tragedy, inspiration and savagery is brilliantly evoked... [His account] makes you feel grudging admiration for a bully whose self-belief was, in a way, heroic * Sunday Times * Superb psychological study of a literary genius... Matthew Dennison's biography of Roald Dahl manages to peel back the layers of an infamously complex man * Sunday Business Post * Matthew Dennison's streamlined text clips along with an economy befitting Dahl's brusque manner... Dennison presents a rounded picture [...] and gets to Dahl's flawed, human core * Country Life * A well-researched, compact book * Observer * This book is riveting, and immaculately written * Sunday Telegraph * Brace yourself for Dahl mania... Documenting the multi-layered life of Roald Dahl as a creative maverick who created some of the most well-loved characters in literature, this biography reevaluates Dahl by examining his surviving relics * Tatler * A crisply done and well-judged survey of the outline of the life * TLS * [An] impeccably balanced new biography * Mail on Sunday * An intriguing read about a vastly talented but morally weak man * The Anglo-Celt * Dennison recasts the narrative of the daredevil pilot and spy-turned-author as a rule-breaker, romantic and ultimately a child's friend * School House * An elegant new biography... capturing [Dahl's] grandiose, tragedy-specked life. * The New York Times *