"In the beginning, this story is quirky and thoughtful, just what one would expect from the pen of a granddaughter of Roald Dahl, beloved author of startling children's books. What's more, it's funny and moving, and worth devouring on its own as an Eccentric Mother Knows Best kind of tale. But this is no children's story. Read far enough, and the pages darken with a kind of coming of age that is only slightly more palatable than, say, Augusten Burroughs' inRunning With Scissors.Playing With the Grown-upsgrows beyond charming child's play to a clear-eyed compassion for the world's limitless store of tragic human comedy." Bookpage "Captivatingâ¦Playing with the Grown-upsis rooted in biographical seeds but grown over by lush imaginative sentences that wear their seriousness lightly, in the manner of Nancy Mitford and Esther Freudâ¦. Dahl's profound empathy resonates most poignantly in Kitty's relationship with her enchanting yet troubled young mother, Marina. With a fairy-wand touch, Dahl rouses some of the ogresunspoken rivalries, boundary-crossing confidencesthat lie between many mothers and daughters who are both emotionally close and close in age.
" Vogue "In a captivating, eccentric new novel calledPlaying With the Grown-ups, Dahl blurs the line between memoir and fiction with her portrait of an appealing, resilient girl named Kitty. Whisked around England, New York and distant ashrams by her loving but incompetent-at-life yummy mummy, Kitty shuttles between glamorously chaotic households, playing cool big sister not only to her half-siblings, but to her mother, Marina." New York Times "Sparkling, poignant, beautifulI loved it" Cecelia Ahern, author ofPS, I Love You "A lyrical coming-of-age classic . A marvelous evocation of what it means to be a teenage girl, and the journey to womanhood." Justine Picardie, author ofIf the Spirit Moves You "A haunting story of an intricate mother/daughter bond." Redbook "A poetic love storyâ¦partLove in a Cold Climate, part Edith Sitwell and part any one of her grandfather Roald Dahl's books." Vogue(UK) "Deftly written. Peopled by great British eccentrics, it is oddly ageless.
" Guardian "Dahl has genuine talent as a writer . the boarding-school sequences have a compelling emotional clarity." Time Out London "Packed full of bumbling aristocrats, boarding-school romance and American suitors proffering martinis, [Playing with the Grown-ups] proves Dahl has inherited her grandfather's talent." Evemagazine "Dahl is really very funny. I love the hopeless parade of Marina's men and boysâ¦genuine and touching." The Independent From the Hardcover edition.