In order to commend itself to the public a book about the war, the atom bomb, the future and the fairies would have to be good. SOMETIME NEVER includes all four and it is good. Starting in 1940 with the intervention of gremlins in the Battle of Britain it follows the fortunes of three airmen, Peternip, Stuffy and Progboot up to World War III and traces the accumulation of human folly to its climax in the war after next. Not altogether a comfortable book, but a book barbed with delights. It is witty, satirical and just plain funny. It is compassionate and ruthless. And it is written with much enjoyment, and so well and with so various an imagination as to invite comparison with the great satirical fables of the past.

Readers of Over To You, Dahl's stories of the air-war, will remember the strangeness and distinction of his work. They will find those qualities again in this book, with much added of entertainment, provocation and strength.