Happily, this entertaining book far-exceeded my expectations. My Family and Other Animals is the semi-autobiographical account of prepubescent Gerald's expat life on the Greek island of Corfu with his upper crust, eccentric, English family. (A side note to any fellow Brits who once strode majestically in platform shoes: the price on the book was a nostalgic three shillings and sixpence). So when I found this book in the attic, with its dog-eared cover held together with Sellotape and pages jaundiced with age, I had mixed feelings about reading it again. It's usually a huge mistake to return to a childhood favourite, imagining it would be just as good the second time around. Gerald Durrell died in 1995.Ī delightful, lyrical and altogether MAGICAL read. Gerald Durrell's style is exuberant, passionate and acutely observed. In 1958 Gerald Durrell realised a lifelong dream when he set up the Jersey Zoological Park, followed a few years later by the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust.ĭurell was married twice Jacquie Durrell (1951-1979), Lee Durrell (1979-1995). Durrell also visited many countries while shooting various television series, including An Amateur Naturalist. He recounts these experiences in a number of books, including The Drunken Forest. The first, to the Cameroons, was followed by expeditions to Paraguay, Argentina and Sierra Leone. A few years later, Durrell began organising his own animal-collecting expeditions. His adventures there are told with characteristic energy in Beasts in My Belfry. On leaving Corfu he returned to England to work on the staff of Whipsnade Park as a student keeper. In his books he writes with wry humour and great perception about both the humans and the animals he meets. He relates these experiences in the trilogy beginning with My Family and Other Animals, and continuing with Birds, Beasts and Relatives and The Garden of the Gods.
His family settled on Corfu when Durrell was a boy and he spent his time studying its wildlife. His elder siblings are Lawrence Durrell, Leslie Durrell, and Margaret Durrell. Gerald "Gerry" Malcolm Durrell was born in India in 1925.
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