‘A shimmering fabric of his yesterdays, the magic and the hurt’ Observer
‘As frightening and funny as his fiction’ The New York Times Book Review
‘Superbly written. A glimpse of a brilliant eccentric’ New Statesman
GOING SOLO
‘They did not think for one moment that they would findanything but a burnt-out fuselage and a charred skeleton,and they were astounded when they came upon mystill-breathing body lying in the sand nearby.’
In 1938 Roald Dahl was fresh out of school and bound for his first jobin Africa, hoping to find adventure far from home. However, he got farmore excitement than he bargained for when the outbreak of the SecondWorld War led him to join the RAF. His account of his experiences inAfrica, crashing a plane in the Western Desert, rescue and recovery fromhis horrific injuries in Alexandria, flying a Hurricane as Greece fell to theGermans, and many other daring deeds, recreates a world as bizarre andunnerving as any he wrote about in his fiction.
‘Very nearly as grotesque as his fiction. The same compulsive blend of wide-eyedinnocence and fascination with danger and horror’ Evening Standard
‘A non-stop demonstration of expert raconteurship’ The New York Times Book Review
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THE BEGINNING
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Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
These stories have been previously published in a variety of publications.
Details of each story’s original publication are provided at the start of each chapter and constitute an extension of this copyright page.
This collection first published in Penguin Books 2017
Copyright © Roald Dahl Nominee Ltd, 1944, 1953, 1959, 1965, 1977, 1986, 1988
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Cover artwork by Charming Baker
One or Two Cats, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-405-93324-7
