New Releases by Donald Sturrock

From the author of The BFG, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and many more beloved classics—a whimsical, witty, and revealing collection of the legendary children’s author and writer Roald Dahl''s letters written to his mother, from early childhood through Dahl’s travels to Africa, his career in the Royal Air Force, his work in post-war Washington, D.C., and Hollywood, and the books that made him a literary star. Roald Dahl penned his first letter to his mother, Sofie Magdalene, when he was just nine years old. The origins of a brilliantly funny, subversive, creative mind were evident in boarding school, and as he entered adulthood, his penchant for storytelling emerged in his missives home from Africa, where he was stationed by Shell Oil, and then the desert camps of the Royal Air Force. His skills were sharpened after a plane crash in Egypt landed him in Washington, D.C., where his cheery letters home were cover for his work in the British Secret Service, along with gossipy updates on his spontaneous rise in Hollywood and his budding New York literary career. His mother was, in many ways, Dahl’s first reader, and without her correspondence he might never have become a writer. Sofie Magdalene kept every letter her son wrote to her (sadly, her own side of the correspondence did not survive). It was she who encouraged him to tell stories and nourished his desire to fabricate, exaggerate, and entertain. In these letters, Dahl began practicing his craft, developing the dark sense of humor and fantastical imagination that would later produce his timeless tales. The author of James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and The BFG, Dahl is known by millions the world over today. But, writing candidly to the person who knew him best, Dahl was as singular a character as any he created on paper. Assembled by Dahl’s authorized biographer Donald Sturrock, Love from Boy is a remarkable collection of never-before-published writing that spans four decades and chronicles the remarkable, unpredictable life of its author. While Dahl’s books remain bestselling favorites for all ages, Love from Boy provides an unprecedented glimpse of the author through his own eyes—a life punctuated by tragedy, creative stagnation, unexpected fame, and fantastic adventure.

Roald Dahl è uno dei più grandi scrittori e cantastorie di tutti i tempi. La sua fantasia ha spinto la letteratura per ragazzi in territori inesplorati e, a poco più di vent’anni dalla sua morte, la sua popolarità tra adulti e bambini non cessa di aumentare. Considerato un eroe dai suoi lettori, l’uomo dietro lo scrittore, tuttavia, è rimasto per anni un mistero, e il personaggio pubblico non è stato immune da critiche. Alla sua morte, però, la sua reputazione ha subìto una vera e propria trasformazione e i critici adesso ne celebrano unanimemente l’impetuosa immaginazione, lo humour eccentrico e l’eleganza linguistica, mentre personaggi come Willy Wonka, il Grande Gigante Gentile e Matilde si ergono nel panorama letterario mondiale come creazioni immortali. Per questa magnifica biografia, Sturrock ha avuto accesso per la prima volta all’archivio privato dello scrittore, così come a centinaia di lettere e appunti inediti, rivelando aspetti sconosciuti della sua straordinaria vita: la spaventosa esperienza come pilota di caccia; gli anni a Washington durante la Seconda guerra mondiale; la depressione causata dalle disgrazie famigliari che lo colpirono negli anni Sessanta. Nel giro di pochi anni, l’unico figlio maschio dello scrittore rimase vittima, a soli quattro mesi, di un incidente stradale; la sua primogenita di sette anni morì in seguito a un attacco di meningite; la moglie, l’acclamata attrice americana Patricia Neal, venne colpita da emorragia cerebrale. Il libro descrive la reazione di Dahl a queste dolorose esperienze e gli avvenimenti che lo portarono, dopo aver passato la cinquantina, a innamorarsi per la prima volta. La biografia avvincente di uno scrittore eccezionale, ritratto intimo di un uomo estremamente riservato, perseguitato per tutta la vita dal dolore fisico e dalle tragedie famigliari. Dahl continua a vivere in ogni pagina di questo libro, che evoca la sua voce unica e svela l’uomo come non l’avevamo mai visto prima.

Korean edition of STORYTELER: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl by Donald Sturrock is a masterful, witty and incisive look at one of the greatest authors and eccentric characters of the modern age. In Korean. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.

Anyone who ever wished as a child to meet Willy Wonka or hang out with the BFG will be fascinated to learn in this engrossing, authorized biography of the late Roald Dahl that his own life was far, far more strange than even his fiction. Twenty years after his death, Roald Dahl''s bestselling stories continue to inspire and entertain children around the globe. But the man behind the stories remains an enigma. Despite his astonishing life as a Norwegian growing up in Wales, whose father died when he was just five, and as an ace fighter pilot, British intelligence agent, and husband for a while to one of Hollywood''s top stars, Dahl nonetheless persistently embroidered the truth about himself, rewrote history, ignored reality, and defended his deep vulnerabilities with outlandish and wilfully provocative remarks. Facts bored him. As his authorized biographer, Donald Sturrock, a wonderful writer and careful researcher, has drawn on Dahl''s many previously unexamined files and a vast body of unpublished letters for this nuanced and engrossing narrative of the storyteller''s long, adventurous life. From the Hardcover edition.