My Year

Roald Dahl had an abiding love for and interest in nature. He kept notes about the habits of butterflies and frogs, the colour and songs of birds, and the different flowers, plants and berries that blossomed in the countryside around his home, Gipsy House, throughout the year.

In the last year of his life he worked on a diary. What was originally intended to be a few lines turned into a memorable account of the passing year. In this delightful month-by-month journey, Dahl mixes the past and present: reminiscences of childhood and adolescence, combined with tips about how to rid your lawn of moles and produce a first class conker, are interwoven with observations about the changing seasons and the festivals we celebrate.

My year contains some of the most remarkable of Roald Dahl's writing and Quentin Blake's watercolours are suffused with the beauty of the house and countryside that Dahl loved so much. My Year will delight adults and children equally. It is a book to linger over, to savour and enjoy, and is destined to become a classic.