For an authorized biography, this book does a good job of showing both the good and the not-so-good sides of Roald Dahl. Even had Dahl not become a bestselling, beloved children's author, his life would have been a fascinating one. Born in Britain to Norwegian parents, he flew as a fighter pilot in the early days of World War II, was a spy in Washington for the remainder, married a famous actress, and helped pioneer medical advances after tragedy struck his own family.

Sturrock doesn't hesitate to show the darker Dahl--misanthropic, touchy, hard to work with, grudge-holding, outspoken, prone to picking fights. There were a LOT of times when I felt that Dahl wasn't someone I'd want to know. Sturrock doesn't delve too much into the books and stories themselves, but provides enough information that in reading Dahl's work after this biography, I feel I have new insight into his books.

(Some of that, of course, might be because I'm reading them as a 30-something, not a 10-year-old.)