Matilda - Roald Dahl's best-loved story - is an unbelievable 25 years old yet it's as fresh, funny and poignant as when it was first published in 1988. The story of a child genius, it has been adapted into film and, most recently, a hugely successful, award-winning musical with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin.
The original, magical story with a brand new cover from Quentin Blake!
October 2018 marked 30 years since Matilda was published! This brand new jacket comes with a never-before-seen illustration of Matilda as the Chief Executive of the British Library- one of the careers that Quentin Blake himself has imagined that Matilda might have at 30 years old. ___________
Reunite with some of the greatest (and most ghastly) characters in history!
Matilda Wormwood A remarkable child with a magical mind.
Miss Honey The kindest, cleverest and most caring teacher.
Mr and Mrs Wormwood Matilda's parents - liars, swindlers and TV addicts.
Miss Trunchbull Headmistress of Crunchem Hall and the world's biggest bully.
Bruce Bogtrotter Chocolate-cake-eating extraordinaire!
These are just some of the unforgettable characters from this classic story by the world's number one storyteller - now with a brand-new cover design from Quentin Blake to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the publication of Matilda.
Also available: Matilda at 30: Astrophysicist Matilda at 30: World Traveller
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.