Ah, sweet mystery of life : the country stories of Roald Dahl

A new collection of Roald Dahl stories, all on a theme of country matters; they will all feature those wily characters Claud, Rummins and Bert, who appeared so memorably in Dahl's famous story, parson's pleasure. There will be seven stories in the book, including one (Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life) that has never appeared in book form before. Roald Dahl has written a new introdution, and the book will be enhanced by line drawings. The sweet scents of rural life infuse this collection of Roald Dahl's country stories, but there is always something unexpected lurking in the undergrowth... Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life brings together seven of Roald Dahl's short stories set in and around the Buckinghamshire countryside where Roald lived. The collection was first published in 1989, but all of the stories were originally written in the late 1940s. They are based on Roald's experiences with his friend Claud, a man who lived in the nearby town of Amersham. Claud was an experienced poacher and shared Roald's passion for "gambling in small amounts on horses and greyhounds." From troublesome cows to rat-infested hayricks to maggot farming, Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life brings the tales of everyday country folk and their strange passions wonderfully to life. And many of the characters that feature in this collection went on to inspire and appear in other stories: there's Parson's Pleasure, which features an antiques dealer and bogus clergyman called Boggis, later the name of one of the farmers in Fantastic Mr Fox. And Danny's dad, the filling-shop owner with some ingenious methods for catching pheasants from Danny the Champion of the World, makes an early appearance inThe Champion of the World. The seven stories in the collection are: Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life [Parson's Pleasure](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8318648W/Parson's_Pleasure) [Ratcatcher](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504625W/The_Ratcatcher) [Rummins](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504633W/Rummins) [Mr Hoddy](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504639W/Mr_Hoddy) [Mr Feasey](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504641W/Mr_Feasey) [Champion of the World](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504277W/Champion_of_the_World) ([source](https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/stories/a-e/ah-sweet-mystery-of-life)) The sweet scents of rural life infuse Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life, a collection of Roald Dahl's country stories - but there is always something unexpected lurking in the undergrowth . . . Whether it is taking a troublesome cow to be mated with a prime bull; dealing with a rat-infested hayrick; learning the ways and means of maggot farming; or describing the fine art of poaching pheasants using nothing but raisins and sleeping pills, Roald Dahl brings his stories of everyday country folk and their strange passions wonderfully to life. Lacing each tale with dollops of humour and adding a sprinking of the sinister, Dahl ensures that this collection is brimful of the sweet mysteries of life. 'A sophisticated account of village life. The rural characters are moulded by Dahl's dark, inquisitive imagination. Compelling and very funny' Time Out 'Roald Dahl is one of the few writers I know whose work can accurately be described as addictive' Irish Times Roald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, Roald Dahl's Twisted Tales by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahl's stories continue to make readers shiver today. Roald Dahl describes country life in his off-beat way. All the tales about rat-catching, maggot-breeding, poaching and the eccentricities of country life are dealt with in a sophisticated and witty way