A Roald Dahl Selection

by Roald Dahl

Includes:
Man from the South, Lamb to the Slaughter, The Landlady, The champion of the World, Galloping Foxley, Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat, The Ratcatcher and The Hitchhiker.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Roald Dahl was a beloved British author, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter pilot, best known for his enchanting and often darkly humorous children's books that have captivated generations of readers around the world. Born in Llandaff, Wales, to Norwegian parents, Dahl led a life marked by adventure, tragedy, creativity, and enduring literary success. His vivid imagination and distinctive storytelling style have made him one of the most celebrated children's authors in modern literature.
Before becoming a writer, Dahl lived a life filled with excitement and hardship. He served as a Royal Air Force pilot during World War II, surviving a near-fatal crash in the Libyan desert. His wartime experiences and travels deeply influenced his storytelling, often infusing his works with a sense of danger, resilience, and the triumph of the underdog. After the war, he began writing for both adults and children, showing a rare versatility that spanned genres and age groups.
Dahl's children's books are known for their playful use of language, unforgettable characters, and a deep sense of justice, often pitting clever children against cruel or foolish adults. Some of his most iconic titles include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr Fox, and The Witches. These works are filled with fantastical elements and moral undertones, empowering young readers to challenge authority, think independently, and believe in the impossible.
Equally acclaimed for his work for adults, Dahl wrote numerous short stories characterized by their macabre twists and dark humor. His stories were frequently published in magazines such as The New Yorker and later compiled into bestselling collections like Someone Like You and Kiss Kiss. He also wrote screenplays, including the James Bond film You Only Live Twice and the adaptation of Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Despite his literary success, Dahl was a complex and sometimes controversial figure, known for his strong opinions and difficult personality. Nonetheless, his books continue to be treasured for their wit, originality, and the sense of wonder they inspire. Many of his stories have been adapted into successful films, stage plays, and television specials, further cementing his legacy.
Dahl's impact on children's literature is immeasurable. His ability to connect with young readers through a mix of irreverence, heart, and imagination has made his stories timeless. Even after his death, his books remain in print and continue to be read by millions of children worldwide. His writing not only entertains but also encourages curiosity, courage, and compassion.
Roald Dahl's work lives on as a testament to the power of storytelling and the magic of a truly original voice. He remains a towering figure in literature whose creations continue to spark joy, mischief, and inspiration across generations.

Reviews

[Luke Kondor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty great collection. Favourites -- Man from the South, Galloping Foxley, Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat, and Skin.

[Brian Law · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories are amazing. I have no doubt about Dahl’s skills in story-telling. The stories usually start with a plain tone and would take a sudden turn in the development of the plot. Some chapters are quite predictable though. I like the Lamb to the Slaughter and the Galloping Foxley most and the Rat Catcher least.

[Koh Jie Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains many short stories by Roald Dahl.The stories are interesting and have very catchy openings.Most of the stories require the reader to guess the endings in a way as Roald Dahl did not state what happens in the end.
Good points:D
-Fun to read
-interesting storylines
-Good words and phrases
-includes tips on storywriting
Bad points:(
-Mistakes here and there(thus makes it hard for the reader to understand what is actually going on)
-Some parts are a little hard to understand

I think this is a good book suitable for all ages as it enables the reader to clearly visualize every single story due to the fact that things have been described very well and precisely.

[Ryder Xiao · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having been enchanted by the classic tale of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory since a very young age, I was very excited to see what Roald Dahl has to offer when this book first appeared in my Form 3 textbook list. However, it soon overturned my sweet perception of him as a child book writer and delivered some of the most unconventional, surprising, entertaining, and outrageous short stories I've ever read.

Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat: 5/5
Captivating and delicate storytelling with smooth and vivid use of language. Meticulously designed plot keep readers engaged throughout the story. The ending entertains and satisfys us greatly by delivering an extremely unexpected, witty and laugh-out-loud twist. A perfect demonstration of the unique charm of short story.

Lamb to the Slaughter: 4.5/5
Interesting and highly entertaining build-up of tension, a well constructed crime story with surprising and awe-inspiring design of ending.

The landlady: 4/5
Very intriguing and ingenius plot. Despite sending shiver down your spine, the story still maintained a soft and reserved style without explicit violance, offering a horrific experience while retaining a sense of elegance and boundary.

Man from the South: 3.5/5
In contrast to the serene and relaxing atmosphere of the beginning, tension built up rapidly with the "All-ways?", that's when readers realize the story's destined development towards a gripping, bizzare and outrageous direction.

The Champion of the World: 3.5/5
A refreshing look into countryside lifestyle and leisure. Captivating storytelling especially from the middle part onwards, ending with a satisfying, dramatic but gentle culmination. However, the opening and background lay out may feel a bit slow paced and redundant.

Galloping foxley: 3/5
Eye-opening depiction of English public school system in the early 20th century with delicate and detailed use of language. The jaw-dropping extend of youthful malice and cruelty was nonetheless too uncomfortable to be taken seriously, leaving the story with questionable crediility.

The hitchhiker: 3/5
Despite with some of the most fluent and well-balanced language, the plot was mediocre with a rather predictable ending.

Skin: 2/5
Though the core idea is quite gripping and thoughful for its portrayl of poverty and cold-blooded merchants, bulding upon it was a very predictable and unsurprising plot with a redundant and slightly confusing beginning.

The Ratcatcher: 1/5
Confusing, outrageous and uncomfortable plot with an unnecesary extend of violance. Freakish and grotesque with little artistic beauty. Not recommended.

[Lau Chun Hei, Dickie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Landlady~I think that the landlady will kill Billy after Billy live in the hotel, because the landlady only has a few guests live in her hotel and her two previous guests live in her hotel have been on the newspapers before, they are maybe some missing persons in the newspaper and not the celebrity because I think if they are celebrity, he may have deep impression. Also, the landlady has many animals just as silent as a statue, these may come from after the person or animals been killed, after killing Mr. Temple, the animals……In addition, the cup of tea that gave Billy to drink is tasted faintly of bitter almonds, and the landlady asked him to drink another cup of tea, so I think that cup of tea may add some toxic into the cup of tea for poison him to death.
So, I think at the end Billy will be killed.

Ratcatcher~I think apart from Claud wanting to get rid of the rats, it is because that in one day the narrator is at the filling station one day with Claud when the ratcatcher sidles up and announces that he has been sent by the Health Officer who is from the Health Office is going to take care of the rat problem. He begins to expound on the difficulty of outsmarting rats and the different approaches you would take to killing them. Claud tells him that the rats he needs to kill are living in a hayrick across the road, so the ratcatcher will get rid of them.

[Wong Tsz Ling Jena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to think that Roald Dahl wrote children story only, when I read this book I found out the truth isn’t as same as I expected. Roald Dahl also wrote dark story which can show the reality and break the traditional thinking, he likes to turn the role upside down. Such as the Landlady who will notice a harmless old woman has necrophilia and a successful businessman didn’t notice that the old woman isn’t a kind person? Turns out Billy got killed by the old woman. Another example is The Lamb to the Slaughter, we normally think that a pregnant woman is kind and tender, at the beginning we will think Mary is the ‘lamb’ which is harmless, when the atmosphere in the house becomes wrong, we noticed that Mary isn’t harmless and she killed her husband without any sympathy or thinking. At last, she used her role as a woman which in the past is harmless and get rid of the crime.

[Tanner Tam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains a number of short stories written by Roald Dahl, he is one of the best storyteller.
His use of tensions and twists have made the plots of many stories unpredictable. He also made the stories interesting and appealing to read. The plots of many of the stories really surprised me. For example, the story “lamb to the slaughter”, he revealed the dark side of human nature with detailed description of the protagonist Mary Maloney. I have also never thought that Mary would kill his husband with a lamb and ask the police detectives who came afterwards to eat it in order to destroy the evidence

[Ng Man Lok Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting selection consisted of many stories by Roald Dahl, an outstanding novelist/storyteller, this book includes a variety of short stories including 'Lamb to the Slaughter', which was a murder story with a clear storyline but also had an unexpected turn of events, the story was well written thanks to the good use of the descriptive language and unique plot, another interesting story was ‘Man from The South’, it also has a smooth storyline and a great twist that will surprise every reader, I recommend this book to everyone who like short stories.

[Emily Leung Sui Lam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first time for me to read a Roald Dahl book and his writing skills really surprised me. The whole book was thrilling to read and I enjoyed every sub-story in it. For example, one of my favorite sub-stories is this book is "Lamb to the Slaughter", it is along the lines of a pregnant lady trying to cover up the murder of his own husband by making the officers to eat the murder weapon which is a frozen lamb leg. This story is so chilling and fun to read that I reread it twice. To put this in a nutshell, this is one of my favorite books that I have read this year.

[Ng Yan Kiu Chiemi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think most readers may think Roald Dahl are mainly write stories for children, but this book include nine stories which have hidden meanings behind each stories and unexpected twist. I really enjoy reading this book, because every stories seem like normal at the beginning, till the end, the ending always gives me surprise. I really like Man from the South, Lamb to the Slaughter and Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat. I highly recommend this book to 13 years old or above students to read, it will be interesting for them.

[YEU TING TING TIFFANY · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very interesting to read as it contains many exciting short stories and is creepy to read. I found it appealing for the imaginative use of language and the way they described the characters in the stories. I really liked the Lamb to the Slaughter as the ending was not expected, which surprised me since it was beyond my imagination for what the lady would do. The landlady is also one of my favorites. Although the whole story was creeping me out, it was addicting to read and know what happens next.

[iansomething · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man From The South
- Waging cars for fingers

Lamb to the Slaughter
- Husband and wife settle their differences over a leg of lamb.

Landlady
- Creepy landlady seduces young men into her bed and breakfast.

The Champion of the World
- Drugging pheasants

Galloping Foxley
- Old enemies meet on a train

Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat
- Marriage problems and deceit

Skin
- Eccentric artist gets a back tattoo

The Ratcatcher
- Eating rats for coins

The Hitchhiker
- Clever fingers

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roald Dahl (September 13, 1916 to November 23, 1990) was a British author who penned 19 children's books over his decades-long writing career. In 1953 he published the best-selling story collection Someone Like You and married actress Patricia Neal. He published the popular book James and the Giant Peach in 1961. In 1964 he released another highly successful work, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was later adapted for two films.

[Vianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book we had to read for class and I was not disappointed with it. I really like the way the author writes and the fact that every story is well thought out and the motto becomes clearer as you read it again. The Lamb To The Slaughter was especially entertaining with the use of irony. An example to this would be how the how the police officers thought the weapon would be easy to find but didn’t know they were getting rid of the weapon while they ate the lamb leg.

[Louis Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this selection of stories, each story had an interesting plot and the endings always kept me surprised, one of the stories I really enjoyed was the first one, the "Man from the South", it was an interesting read with a twist at the end that really make me think and wonder about it, another one was "Lamb to the Slaughter" as it was a very weird read, the end with the murder weapon being eaten by the officers was a very smart move that Ms.Maloney did.

[Mak Hiu · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many shorts stories in this book. The stories are very interesting and always with an open ending. Although some of the stories are quite creepy but I still have interest to reading this book. One of my favorite story is The Lamb to the Slaughter because it break the traditional thinking, no one will think that a pregnant woman will kill her husband who is the father of her baby. But she is the person who kill her husband and get rid of the crime at the end of the story.

[Amy Rollason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adore almost every story in this collection!

[Sharon Chu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book has a lot of funny and fantastic stories in it, especially most of them always have unpredictable endings.

[Leung hiu ching samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book have many short stories, it is interesting . Most of the stories require the reader to guess the endings so I like it a lot.

[Yan Hei Leong · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this selection, I have read Man from the South, the Landlady, Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat, and the Ratcatcher. In these story, I have learnt a lot. In the story, Man from the South, I have learn that we need to be careful for those who you associate with because they might lead you to the wrong direction. In conclusion, these stories let me learn a lot and improve my vocabulary. I think the author, Roald Dahl, is an excellent writer.

[Tiffany Chiang · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book includes many famous short stories from Ronald Dahl. The short stories in this book often start the story with a catchy beginning and ends with a creepy way.Roald Dahl’s short stories often requires readers to guess the ending.I like the landlady and lamb to the slaughter more.The mystery in these stories began near the start of the story, continues with a surprising twist.

[Chen Wing Hei Micheline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has 9 stories. It includes Man From The South, Lamb To The Slaughter, The Landlady,
The Champion Of The World, Galloping Foxley, Mrs Bixby And The Colonel's Coat, Skin, The Ratcatcher, The Hitchhiker. Some stories are creepy, especially the ones that are about murder, betting on a body part, vanishing people who don't come back and selling skin. Not all the stories are creepy, some are actually slightly more interesting since there might be plot twist, depending on which story you're reading.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

As part of my World Book Night reading challenge I should have been reading Short Stories by Roald Dahl - unfortunately this was produced especially for the WBN and therefore not available to buy so I came across this collection instead.

Having recently read another book of short stories that I didn't enjoy so much I was a bit dubious about reading another. But as this was part of a reading challenge I felt compelled too.

This collection of 9 stories includes the following:

Man from the South, Lamb to the Slaughter, The Landlady, The Champion of the World, Galloping Foxley, Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat, Skin, The Ratcatcher, The Hitchhiker. My favourites being Lamb to the Slaughter and The Landlady but all were equally as good!

Cleverly written, they're all about some kind of greed or wrong-doing and are just a little bit wicked. A great opening story will have you hooked from the first few pages and this continues throughout the whole book. Each story has an interesting and gripping premise which draws you in from the first few pages and then delivers an unexpected twist every time and this is why Roald Dahl was brilliant at stuff like Tales of the Unexpected - a master of his craft.

I have to say that I really enjoyed all of these stories and so they've restored my faith in the short story and I would recommend for readers 13+, fans of Roald Dahl and anyone who likes a wicked twist!

[Azat Sultanov · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never knew Roald Dahl wrote for adults as well and I was really surprised when I just opened the book at a random page and started reading,it was nothing like a children's book. I was delighted with the story and detrmined to read the book from cover to cover. I wasn't disappointed. If you like stories with surprising endings I'm sure you will totally enjoy this book.

[Feranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was a storybook... its nice but its so irritating, when i want to read on, THE EXCERPT ENDS!!!

[Bill Barlow · Rating 2 out of 5]

a bit surprising

[Shivaansh Gounder]

I really like the complex ideas of the Lamb of the Slaughter!!!

[Jenny Burridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.