Roald is an (obviously) witty, engaging and sometimes even inspired author, but he was almost standoffish in his personal life, and these letters are sent to us today from another time, from another class, and an Empire that no longer exists. The time of his life most covered is his young adulthood, which, while interesting, is when this postal-timegap seems to yearn the furthest, leaving us intrigued but removed. Touching at times, but nothing compared to his best fiction, and even his own autobiographical work.