A classic Roald Dahl title, a most touching story of a boy and his very special father. Danny and his father live in a caravan parked right next to the garage where his father works. Danny father teaches him how to fix bits of car, reads him bedtime stories and introduces him to the wonders of nature. One night, Danny discovers his father has a secret. He is a brilliant poacher and he is determined to outwit the local gamekeepers. How Danny helps his father carry out his most daring plan of all without being caught is a thrilling read and a triumph for father and son.
Danny lives happily and peacefully in a gypsy caravan with his devoted father and works in his spare time in their small village petrol station. However, when Danny turns nine his world is turned upside down when he learns of his father's secret passion for pheasant poaching in the estate of the nasty, greedy Victor Hazell, the local wealthy landowner. In the early hours, Danny awakes to find that his father has failed to return after a night of poaching. Fearing that his father may be in grave danger, Danny leaves the caravan and sets off on a courageous journey to rescue him. Soon, with a little help from the village, Danny finds himself the mastermind behind the most incredible and exciting plot ever attempted against Victor Hazell.
Roald Dahl was born in Wales of Norwegian parents – the child of a second marriage. His father and elder sister died when Roald was just three. His mother was left to raise two stepchildren and her own four children. Roald was her only son.
He had an unhappy time at school - at Llandaff Cathedral School, at St Peter’s prep school in Weston-super-Mare and then at Repton in Derbyshire.
Dahl’s unhappy time at school was to influence his writing greatly. He once said that what distinguished him from most other children’s writers was “this business of remembering what it was like to be young”. Roald’s childhood and schooldays are the subject of his autobiography Boy.
Since Roald Dahl’s death, his books have more than maintained their popularity. Total sales of the UK editions are around 37 million, with more than 1 million copies sold every year! Sales have grown particularly strongly in America where Dahl books are now achieving the bestselling status that curiously proved elusive during the author’s lifetime.
