Donald Sturrock prefaces the first authorised biography of Roald Dahl with a quote from his subject: ‘I don’t lie. I merely make the truth a little more interesting…I don’t break my word − I merely bend it slightly…’ It is a telling comment from one of the world’s most engaging storytellers, and this book teases out the many ways in which Dahl colluded in his own myth-making.

Here though, was a man who seems to have crammed three exciting careers into one lifetime: as a World War II fighter pilot and a military spy, as well as an exceptional writer of macabre and subversive stories for adults and children alike. Storyteller follows, in chronological order, the exploits of Dahl’s Norwegian ancestors all the way through to his dying last words in 1990. There is certainly no shortage of material to unravel, as the novelist was once married to an Oscar-winning star and kept the company of presidents, politicians and diplomats.

With an insight borne from ready access to Dahl’s large circle of family and friends as well as his private papers, Sturrock succeeds in exploring the various idiosyncratic personality traits of Dahl; in extreme form he encapsulated both Charlie Bucket and Willy Wonka. In his capricious, rumbunctious manner, the author was the supremely assured chocolate magnate; but he was also the vulnerable, imaginative little boy. Indeed Dahl proudly defined himself as a ‘geriatric child’ and this mischievous, anti-authoritarian spirit resonated throughout his entire life.

Sturrock is obviously a great admirer of Dahl, however his biography is not sycophantic but a scrupulously balanced portrait of a man who was as dogmatic, bumptious and a ‘vainglorious boaster’ as he was charming, reclusive and determined. Fans will be fascinated to learn little known details about his books (for instance, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was originally meant to be a detective novel).

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