Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories

by Roald Dahl

Overview

Who better to investigate the literary spirit world than that supreme connoisseur of the unexpected? From the author of such beloved books as James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The Witches comes a collection of spooky tales carefully curated by the author himself, Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories.

Of the many permutations of the macabre or bizarre, Dahl was always especially fascinated by the classic ghost story. As he relates in the erudite introduction to this volume, he read some 749 supernatural tales at the British Museum Library before selecting the 14 that comprise this anthology. "Spookiness is, after all, the real purpose of the ghost story," Dahl writes. "It should give you the creeps and disturb your thoughts."

For this superbly disquieting collection, Dahl offers favorite tales by such masterful storytellers as E. F. Benson, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Rosemary Timperley, and Edith Wharton.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374518684
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	10/01/1984
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	51,092
Product dimensions:	5.48(w) x 8.22(h) x 0.63(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1916 and educated in English boarding schools from the age of nine until twenty. During World War II, he was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot in North Africa and Greece. When his active duty was completed, he was transferred to Washington, D.C., where he was asked to write about some of his adventures. A Piece of Cake, his first published work, was an account of a fighter plane crashing in Libya. His first piece of fiction was called The Gremlins, a story about little creatures who make trouble for the Royal Air Force by drilling holes in the planes and wreaking general havoc.

Fifteen years later, Roald Dahl found himself telling bedtime stories to his children over and over again, and those were the basis for James and the Giant Peach, his first published children's novel. After that came Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to be followed by many others, including The BFG, The Witches, and Matilda.

More can be learned about Roald Dahl in his autobiographical Boy: Tales of Childhood and Going Solo, as well as in the chapter called "Lucky Break" in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. Roald Dahl died in 1990 at the age of seventy-four. Although the world lost one of its most beloved authors, what he has left behind is a rich library of wonderful tales for children of today and tomorrow to discover and enjoy.

Date of Birth:

September 13, 1916

Date of Death:

November 23, 1990

Place of Birth:

Llandaff, Wales, England

Place of Death:

Oxford, England

Table of Contents

Introduction Roald Dahl

W.S. L. P. Hartley

Harry Rosemary Timperley

The Corner Shop Cynthia Asquith

In the Tube E. F. Benson

Christmas Meeting Rosemary Timperley

Elias and the Draug Jonas Lie

Playmates A. M. Burrage

Ringing the Changes Robert Aickman

The Telephone Mary Treadgold

The Ghost of a Hand J. Sheridan Le Fanu

The Sweeper A. M. Burrage (Ex-Private X)

Afterward Edith Wharton

On the Brighton Road Richard Middleton

The Upper Berth F. Marion Crawford

Editorial Reviews

Roald Dahl has selected fourteen of his favorite ghost stories that will deliver chills and goose bumps. "This is the best book of its kind in years.” —The Washington Post Book World

From the Publisher