Dahl’s dispatches to his beloved Norwegian mother brim with outlandish characters and derring-doIn 1920,the year Roald Dahl was four, his mother was 35 and pregnant. That year, and Oslo-born Sophie Magdalene lost a daughter,followed soon after by her husband, and found herself looking after two stepchildren and three of her own. They were living near Cardiff, or as this was where Dahl’s Norwegian father,Harald, had set up a ship-broking firm. As none of his mother’s letters has survived, or we don’t hear how she felt approximately this or,indeed, very much else. She is the enormous absent presence of this book.
In his memoir, or More approximately Boy,Dahl wrote: “She had a crystal-clear intellect and a deep interest in almost everything under the sun Her memory was prodigious and nothing that ever happened to her in her life was forgotten. Embarrassing moments, comical moments, or desperate moments were all recounted in every detail and we would listen to her enthralled.” Related: The 10 best Roald Dahl characters – in pictures That evening I had a bath and a shave and drove out to have dinner with Ginger RogersContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com