Going Solo

Information

Information on identifying editions is from Richard Walker’s “Roald Dahl – A Guide to Collecting His First Editions”.

First editions:
- Jonathan Cape, 1986, UK.
  - To identify: Used a standard single statement (‘First published’ followed by the date with later printings stated underneath) and published with a jacket priced at £7.95.
- Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1986, USA.
  - To identify: Used a First Edition statement and published with a jacket priced at $14.95.
Connections:
- Over to You is a collection of short stories about pilots and flying, much of which is autobiographical and similar to the stories in this book
- “Katina” tells a story set in the Greek campaign that Dahl describes in this book

Related books:
Audio Books:
- Going Solo read by Dan Stevens
- Going Solo read by Derek Jacobi
- Going Solo read by Ian Holm
- Going Solo read by Andrew Sachs
- Solo 1938-1941 read by Jan Meng
Radio Shows:
- Going Solo (2016)

Buy this book:

Important note: From 2022 onwards, Puffin has edited selected Dahl books to remove sensitive language and insert new sentences not written by Dahl. If you would prefer to read the original text, ensure you get a copy published before 2022 or one of the “Classic Collection” published by Penguin.

Description

In Going Solo, the world’s favourite storyteller, Roald Dahl, tells of life as a fighter pilot in Africa.

‘They did not think for one moment that they would find anything but a burnt-out fuselage and a charred skeleton, and they were astounded when they came upon my still-breathing body lying in the sand nearby.’

In 1938 Roald Dahl was fresh out of school and bound for his first job in Africa, hoping to find adventure far from home. However, he got far more excitement than he bargained for when the outbreak of the Second World War led him to join the RAF. His account of his experiences in Africa, crashing a plane in the Western Desert, rescue and recovery from his horrific injuries in Alexandria, flying a Hurricane as Greece fell to the Germans, and many other daring deeds, recreates a world as bizarre and unnerving as any he wrote about in his fiction.

Reviews

“Young Man, Old Empire, Bad War” by Gahan Wilson from the October 12, 1986 issue of New York Times – New York, USA
“More pleasure in Dahl’s accounts from life than from his fables” by Ralph Elliott from the February 14, 1987 issue of The Canberra Times – Canberra, Australia (read online)
Student Review by Melanie Burd