My Lady Love, My Dove

by Roald Dahl

My Lady Love, My Dove is a short, sharp, frightening story from Roald Dahl, the master of the shocking tale.

Here, Dahl, tells a dark story about the darker side of human nature. What starts as a mere game of cards between two couples is the basis for some shocking deceit...

My Lady Love, My Dove is taken from the short story collection Someone Like You (1953) , which includes seventeen other devious and shocking stories, featuring the wife who serves a dish that baffles the police; a curious machine that reveals the horrifying truth about plants; the man waiting to be bitten by the venomous snake asleep on his stomach; and others. It was also later published in Skin and Other Stories (1960) .

Roald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), James and the Giant Peach (1961), Matilda (1988), and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often adapted into hit films, helping further the legacy of stories that continue to make millions of readers – young and old alike – shiver today.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

17 pages, Unknown Binding

First published September 13, 2012

About the author

Roald Dahl was a beloved British author, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter pilot, best known for his enchanting and often darkly humorous children's books that have captivated generations of readers around the world. Born in Llandaff, Wales, to Norwegian parents, Dahl led a life marked by adventure, tragedy, creativity, and enduring literary success. His vivid imagination and distinctive storytelling style have made him one of the most celebrated children's authors in modern literature.
Before becoming a writer, Dahl lived a life filled with excitement and hardship. He served as a Royal Air Force pilot during World War II, surviving a near-fatal crash in the Libyan desert. His wartime experiences and travels deeply influenced his storytelling, often infusing his works with a sense of danger, resilience, and the triumph of the underdog. After the war, he began writing for both adults and children, showing a rare versatility that spanned genres and age groups.
Dahl's children's books are known for their playful use of language, unforgettable characters, and a deep sense of justice, often pitting clever children against cruel or foolish adults. Some of his most iconic titles include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr Fox, and The Witches. These works are filled with fantastical elements and moral undertones, empowering young readers to challenge authority, think independently, and believe in the impossible.
Equally acclaimed for his work for adults, Dahl wrote numerous short stories characterized by their macabre twists and dark humor. His stories were frequently published in magazines such as The New Yorker and later compiled into bestselling collections like Someone Like You and Kiss Kiss. He also wrote screenplays, including the James Bond film You Only Live Twice and the adaptation of Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Despite his literary success, Dahl was a complex and sometimes controversial figure, known for his strong opinions and difficult personality. Nonetheless, his books continue to be treasured for their wit, originality, and the sense of wonder they inspire. Many of his stories have been adapted into successful films, stage plays, and television specials, further cementing his legacy.
Dahl's impact on children's literature is immeasurable. His ability to connect with young readers through a mix of irreverence, heart, and imagination has made his stories timeless. Even after his death, his books remain in print and continue to be read by millions of children worldwide. His writing not only entertains but also encourages curiosity, courage, and compassion.
Roald Dahl's work lives on as a testament to the power of storytelling and the magic of a truly original voice. He remains a towering figure in literature whose creations continue to spark joy, mischief, and inspiration across generations.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

یه بار سر یکی از امتحان های خیلی قدیم دانشگاه، بچه ها داشتن تلاش میکردن شیوه تقلبی به نام «پدال زدن» رو بهم یاد بدن. قاعدتن با فقط پا و دست نبود، کلی جسشر و اکسپرشن تعریف کرده بودن و چندین لول داشت، هرکس چند سطح فلان مبحث رو خونده بود برا انتقال به نفر بعدی یا اصلاح شخص قبلی هم مدل داشتن و اصلا یه چیز پیچیده ای!
من که یاد نگرفتم ولی یادمه سر امتحان داشتن جدی ازش استفاده میکردن و وقتی میدونستی دارن چیکار میکنن خیلی خنده دار بود.
این داستان یاد اون انداختتم.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07j571j

Description: Charles Dance leads the cast as the urbane Storyteller in dramatisations of five classic tales by Roald Dahl. Bizarre and amusing by turns, these dark comedies are justly famous for their surprise endings, and for their rogues gallery of crooks, cheats and schemers.

The stories show Dahl at the height of his powers as a writer of adult fiction, combining black comedy with sly social satire. They are stylishly plotted, vividly characterised and made unforgettable by their breezy cynicism, presenting a hilariously bleak view of human nature.

In My Lady Love, My Dove, starring Penelope Keith, we meet Arthur and Pamela Beauchamp, a wealthy couple who like to play bridge. However, they are continually being beaten by the Snapes - a younger couple who stay with them as house guests. But Pamela has devised a cunning way of getting her own back.

[Belen (f.k.a. La Mala ✌) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

Dahl suele tener los personajes femeninos más interesantes- al menos en los cuentos que tuve el gusto y la obligación para la facu de leer. ¡Qué manera de escribir villanas! Me encantan.

[Maissa Daas · Rating 2 out of 5]

My very first time reading a Roald Dahl story .I had to read My Lady Love , My Dove for a creative writing class in order to learn the basics of short stories. It was a little underwhelming , I expected a bigger , more shocking plot twist especially that I liked the way Dahl developped the characters , in the other hand I was very impressed by his writing style , so may be I'll try another story by him in the future .
قرأتها بسبب صف للكتابة الإبداعية كواجب من أجل التعرف على أساسيات القصة القصيرة ، كانت مخيبة للآمال حيث توقعت نهاية صادمة أكثر. أسلوب الكتابة جيد و هو ما سيحفزني في المستقبل للتعرف على الكاتب في قصص أخرى .

[Olya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well here we go again, one more review for Dahl’s story. Today we’re dealing with “My Lady Love, My Dove”, which seemed to me not as dramatic and intriguing as the rest of the writer’s works. Let’s start off from the plot, shall we?

The story introduces us to not quite an ordinary couple, Pamela and Arthur, who differ inwardly almost as much as they do outwardly. Pamela is a tall, contemptuous and overbearing woman with her own droll hobbies while Arthur is a tiny, flabby man who is afraid of everything that moves but at the same time can’t stand being called a coward. To crown it all he loves his wife to death and sooner or later signs up for everything she offers. Thus, the whole story is some kind of a conflict between two absolutely different personalities, ‘the good’ and ‘the bad’.

To be completely honest, I wasn’t that much amused with this story. Being a huge Dahl’s fan I was expecting some mystery here and some murders there but it all turned out to be pretty composed. I mean, yes, you probably will hold your breath for a couple of seconds at some point but it’s not what I’m here for. As I can guess, the characters themselves, their development, hidden secrets and desires were supposed to be the main intrigue of the story. Well, I honestly believe that there’s a reader out there for every story, so maybe someone will find it quite fascinating.

To sum it all up, this book is totally worth reading because, let’s face it, every Dahl’s story is. But I’m here just to give you a heads-up: don’t expect a cold-blooded murder or a spine-chilling plot twist ‘cause you won’t be getting any.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

“MY LADY LOVE, MY DOVE”. Hope I wasn`t the only one who saw a kind of irony in the title. Sure, the story itself is about tricky human nature, how different our inward man is from a person that we heartily try to look like.
I don`t believe that you`ve never guessed what your friends/colleagues/cats/partner/etc. think or talk about you. You have. Me either. There`s nothing to be ashamed of. But if your curiosity doesn`t have the bounds of decency that you can even easily eavesdrop on somebody without any excuse, so I can definitely conclude that there take place some problems. Coming to the point, I`d like to mention that my introduction is closely connected with the situation within the house of the spouses and also the main characters of the story, Arthur and Pamela. Pamela is a kind of an overbearing person whose nasty habits aren`t highly competitive with her husband`s ones. Birds of a feather flock together as they say. And when Pamela, wholly given to the idea of listening to their guests , the Snapes, meditates doing it, Arthur can do nothing but following her instructions inwardly being completely for this. The result of this `experiment` you will find out in the end of the story which plot draws readers` attention and doesn`t let it go. Besides the whole text that is full of intrigues and surprises, the end turned out to be less impressive than I had expected. However, it doesn`t spoil the major impression.
If you`re still looking for a reason for reading this story the desire to see the undergarment of human nature is the leading clause.

[Olga · Rating 2 out of 5]

«My Lady Love, My Dove» is a short story by Roald Dahl. It's about the darker side of human nature. The trick of this story is connected with a game of cards between two couples during which a shocking deceit happens.

I’m afraid, I can’t say that this story by Dahl impressed me like all his previous works which I have already covered. After reading it, I felt like something was sorely missing. I tend to think that the culmination comes short of expectations. You don’t experience this thrill and excitement that ‘was promised’ at the beginning of the story. There is such a marvelous start and quite a boring ending. But certainly I can’t judge the author, I suppose it might be my fault and this story is just beyond my depth. However, generally I liked Dahl’s idea about the fraud during cards and, perhaps, had there appeared an unexpected twist or had any outstanding details been revealed at the end, this story would have become more stirring and compelling.

In conclusion, I d like to admit that to my mind this story doesn’t come first among other fascinating Dahl’s books which won’t let you fall asleep for a couple of nights. Nevertheless, this story would be perfect, if you are fed up with too emotional and action-packed plots.

[Mayumi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mais um conto que eu não gostei tanto. Aliás.. esse eu desgostei. O homem é todo subserviente à esposa e faz todas as vontades dela, inclusive coisas moralmente contestáveis. Mas daí eles descobrem que podem ir além nas coisas moralmente erradas... e, apesar dos dois saberem que é errado e o marido contestar levemente, eles vão em frente. Além disso, parece que é pra gente achar que o marido é vítima dos caprichos da esposa... Pobrezinho.

[itchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

29november2019

read as part of the collection someone like you.

[Bunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the other two short stories I read but still enjoyable

[Nate · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I worked my way through this book, I assumed it was going to be something really juicy at the end. I was disappointed by the result and would have envisioned it very differently.

[Arya Neg Loloshahvar · Rating 5 out of 5]

رولد دال را به واسطه کتاب‌های کودکان اش می‌شناختم و این کتاب اولین اثری است که ازش خواندم و مخاطبش بزرگسال است.
داستان‌هاش در عین هیجان انگیز بودن واقعی هستند و اکثرا با پایان بازشان ذهن را درگیر می‌کنند.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roald Dahl’s story “My Lady Love, My Dove” is one of those published in the collection “The Tales of the Unexpected”. It goes along with such stories as “Landlady”, “Lamb to the Slaughter”, The Way Up to Heaven” and others. Well, although “My Lady Love, My Dove” is unmatched in “bloodiness” to the works mentioned above it is still full of mystery and tension.
The story is about a couple, Arthur and Pamela, waiting for the weekend guests, the Snapes, who are expected to be proficient bridge players. Pamela, who considers the Snapes to be a dreadful couple, decides to put a microphone in the guest-room and bug them. Her spouse being a decent and honest man is horrified to hear Pamela’s suggestion and starts convincing her to abstain from such a nasty thing. However, what seems clear at first sight turns out to be quite different in Dahl’s stories. Pamela reminds her husband of doing things like that one in his past. Arthur’s resistance is broken and a microphone is successfully set in the Snapes’ room.
I can’t deny the author’s mastery of creating vivid images of the two main characters. Their unity – the unity of the characters as wide as the poles apart – opens the central idea of the story. This is the problem of the relationships between two people one of whom is much stronger mentally than the other. Roald Dahl definitely succeeded in picturing of an oppressed position which Arthur finds himself in. His wife, “a nasty person” as she calls herself, dominates him in a really horrible way. And he does allow her to treat him like this. Unfortunately, he worships her. He possesses nothing in his life, even the house, the garden and money are his wife’s. And as for Pamela, she turns out to be smarter than Arthur having found the way of enslavement of him. I wish I could feel sorry for Arthur but his weakness, faintness and vileness of his decision about bugging make me think that he’s as nasty as his wife.
Starting the review, I mentioned lack of “blood” in the story. If you’re a blood lover and want your nerves to be tickled the end of the story will probably disappoint you as it doesn’t contain any stuffed animals, dead bodies or wives craving for revenge. I’d like to say that the end puzzled me a bit. The whole story did kept me in suspense, the dialogues were full of turns, dangerous for the characters, and the main twist – what intriguing secret the Snapes hid and why Pamela was anxious to bug them – electrified me. However, the thing is that the final was a little bit cut and, let me say, awkward. Therefore, I can’t claim that it came up to my expectations.
On the whole, I would like to note that the story is really interesting from a psychological point of view. One can think over the characters endlessly as their actions do give food for thought. So, I certainly advise you to read “My Lady Love, My Dove” by Roald Dahl, a doubtless master of short stories.

[Polina Kondrashkina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you noticed that Roald Dahl’s stories are always about weird married couples? It’s a really strange peculiarity, but you know, the stories are bloody good!

Here we see an elderly married couple, where wife and husband match each other perfectly. The wife is a beautiful lively lady, and the husband is desperately in love with her though they are together for a very long time already. He loves everything about her (even her big green garden by their house), but her egocentrism. It always happens in such way that when they are discussing some point, his opinion doesn’t really matter. And this time it is like: “I dislike the Snapes and SO YOU DO”. And he is really defenseless in the front of his wife pointing at him with her finger!

Anyway, the Snapes are invited for bridge and supposed to stay here for a weekend. They are already coming, and this is the main action of the story. Meanwhile Pamela and Arthur are talking over it until one crazy idea strikes the wife’s head. So when Henry and Sally Snape arrive, the Beauchamps start an operation. The result is… the room of the guests wired. Though the husband is not in raptures over it, he is pursued by his restless wife to put a wire to that room. Oh my goddess, and this is a handsome man over fifty years old! Can you imagine how powerful this woman is? It’s not surprising at all that Arthur sometimes find it difficult to convince himself that she’s not an overbearing woman. And now he even assures himself that what he’s doing is okay to lull his conscience. By the way, I’d like to mark that the Snapes appears to be a nice couple; Henry has an excellent sense of humour and Sally is a cute silent woman. After dinner our four finally has a game of bridge. The meal goes well, and so the game does… Pamela covers her smiles and her husband is getting cold feet. Finally they decide to go to bed as the day has been long and they all have got tired.

The end of the story isn’t really shocking, but it’s at least surprising. How much new information can be got by eavesdropping! Our weird couple overhears the talks of their lovely guests with great interest. And it appears that the Snapes have been cheating all the time! Moreover, they dislike the Beauchamps either. However there’s nothing to worry about, because Pamela and Arthur are not fools, so they decide to acquire this habit. The game is on! /poor Arthur :c/

[Anna_Lart]

I’m going to tell you about the Roald Dahl’s story “My lady love, my dove”, that turned to be something unusual for me.
This story shows you some kind of ordinary family stories, where the normal family does her usual daily routine. Arthur is happily married to Pamela, a very wealthy yet overbearing woman. They are waiting for their guests to come. The only reason she invited them was that the Snapes are good bridge players. This show starts when two families start their game and that is where the all fun begins: money is a thing that won’t ever be something useless, that’s why their passion for the game grows. Both families don’t want to spend money like water that is why it turns to be a really desperate game. The first round for the guests becomes a failure. But something still worries Pamela and Arthur, that’s why they decide to check their guests, to know whether they have something unpleasant on their minds or not. And that unpredictable ending is what you shall be waiting for.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t choose the one favourite character as in this case everyone had some special characteristics. I still adore the fact that all Dahl’s characters have something special that makes them important. I think you will find something familiar in them.
All these characters have sins and they are going to show them. Maybe were it not for their greed, they would be able to show their bright side.
I can recommend this story to all the people who are fond of adventures and who are interested in people’s phycology. If you want to see a usual but totally unexpected end of one human’s story you’d better read it.

[Vika · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story named "My Lady Love, my Dove" by Roald Dahl may seem a bit frustrating at first sight since it doesn't have those striking twists we are used to see in Dahl's works. But if one delves deeper into the author's idea, he may find out that this story is not really that bad.

What I mean is that the author surely tried to focus all his attention on the character of the protagonists' relationships rather than on the plot. This is evident from the story's title: "My Lady Love, my Dove". And though the plot is not devoid of individuality and intrigue, all the actions the heroes perform are to reveal what is between them and what they actually are. The superiority of the wife, for instance, is shown through her bigness, high social status and the way her wide grey eyes mesmerized the husband. The husband's willingness to submit, in its turn, is expressed by his calmness and complaisance.

What's interesting, in spite of the seemingly oppressive vigour from the wife's side, the couple perfectly matches. She helps him to acknowledge his weaknesses and vices while he is a means for her to feel important. I'd say that exactly this quirk of fate is what the author meant to show us. I might be wrong but I perceived his message as "beauty lies in lover's eyes" or as "extremes meet".

[Tamar...playing hooky for a few hours today · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute especially Dahl's henpecked husband's take on his wife. So, husband and wife invite house guests for a weekend of bridge. The guests are merely acquaintances but wife has invited them because she knows they play a good hand of bridge. Before they arrive she instructs husband to "bug" their room - I cannot remember for what sick reason, but after playing a few rubbers on the eve of their arrival, guests retire to their room and wife eagerly beseeches husband to turn on the sound so she can hear what guests are saying. What neither expected to hear was the ensuing argument between the guests over bad plays made at the table. They had come to make money and Goren was not the system they were using.....The hosts could hardly confront after eavesdropping. When in Rome.....

[وائل المنعم · Rating 2 out of 5]

البداية قوية وانتظرنا مفاجأة من وراء خطة الزوجة ولكن خابت التوقعات رغم أن رد فعل الزوجة على ما سمعته بين ضيفيها كان مزعجا لزوجها ولنا.

[Gemma Martín · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually I listened this book for my english class because I didn't have time to read it.
Pamela is a very strange woman, I liked very much the end.

[Chantal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is not that dramatic and intruiging as other stories of Roald Dahl. Still this has great subject matter that will give you ideas.

[Lexi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, highly suspenseful story

[Lucrezia]

I felt a bit awkward reading this

[Esha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 2023 as part of Tales of the Unexpected, Someone Like You, Skin and Other Stories, and Twenty Nine Kisses From Roald Dahl.

[Courtney Schafer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eh to a harpy of a wife who wants to cheat at Bridge.