Summary: 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 from 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 hid his work in the British Secret Service, along with gossipy updates on his spontaneous rise in Hollywood and his budding New York literary career. 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. Dahl the author is known to millions 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, this is a collection of never-before-published writing that spans four decades and chronicles the remarkable, unpredictable life of its author.--Adapted from dust jacket

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