Ben Harrison wonders if he were a little too young when he first came across Roald Dahl’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. He must have been nine, but it wasn’t until 11 that the story clicked. “I re-read it when I was old enough and loved it,” says the theatre director, brandishing the hard-back first edition that he has treasured since then. “Dahl would have hated the term, but it’s aimed at tweenagers. It’s just a bit more sophisticated.”
The centrepiece of a short story collection published in 1977, it is about the titular Henry Sugar who devotes three years to learning esoteric arts in India. He has read an essay about Imhrat Khan, a man who uses the power of meditation to see without using his eyes. It sounds like such a remarkable feat, Henry resolves to gain the same knowledge. [READ MORE]