The Vicar of Nibbleswicke

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Vicar of Nibbleswicke book cover

The Vicar of Nibbleswicke is a children's story written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. It was written to benefit the London Dyslexia Institute in London.

First editions:

Jonathan Cape, 1991, Great Britain.

Random Century Group Ltd., 1991, Great Britain.

Illustrated by Quentin Blake

Viking, 1992, USA.

1 Summary
2 Teaser
3 Sample page
4 Editions

[edit] Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Reverend Lee is suffering from a rare and acutely embarrassing condition: Back-to-Front Dyslexia, a fictional type of dyslexia that causes the sufferer always to say the most important word in a sentence backwards. For example, instead of saying knits, they will say stink; god would be dog; sip would be pis, etc. It affects only his speech, and he doesn't realize he's doing it, but the parishioners of Nibbleswicke are shocked and confused by his seemingly outrageous comments.

At last a cure is found (walking backwards everywhere for the rest of his life), and the mild-mannered vicar can resume normal service. Or at least as normal as is possible for a man who must walk backwards to be sure of talking forwards!

A highly comic tale in the best Dahl tradition of craziness, written for benefit of the Dyslexia Institute.

[edit] Teaser

"My name is Eel, Robert Eel. I am the new rotsap of Nibbleswicke. Dog help me!"

"The Reverend Lee is worried about being in charge of his own parish for the first time. Will he be able to cope with all the responsibility of weddings, funerals, the choir, the bell–ringers and, above all, the sermons at Nibbleswicke? So worried is he that the dyslexia from which he suffered as a child comes back, in the form of a strange speech defect. He doesn't realize he's doing it, but key words come out of his mouth backwards, and thus, for example, he is apt to give his congregation 'the blessing of Dog Almighty.'

The parishioners are amused and later shocked at the garbled messages coming from the pulpit until finally a cure is found: the Vicar of Nibbleswicke must walk backwards for the rest of his life."

[edit] Sample page

Once upon a time there lived a charming God-fearing vicar called the Reverend Lee. When as a young man he first came to take up his duties in the small village of Nibbleswicke, there was for a while utter confusion and often genuine consternation among his devout parishioners. What happened was this: as a boy, Robert Lee had suffered from severe dyslexia. However, guided by the London Dyslexia Institute and helped by some excellent teachers, Robert made such splendid progress that by the time he was 18 his writing and reading were more or less normal and he was able to gratify his ambition to go into training for the ministry. All went well and by the time he was 27 Robert Lee had become the Reverend Lee and had been appointed to his first important job as Vicar of Nibbleswicke. During the drive down to Nibbleswickle in his old Morris 1000, it suddenly dawned upon him that for the first time in his life he was going to be all on his own. He began to get nervous. Would he be equal to running a parish?