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Reading lists

9 holiday reads set in Greece

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Children's reading lists

9 must-read classic children’s books, as chosen by our readers

My Family and Other Animals

Gerald Durrell's beloved classic memoir, now published as a beautiful Penguin Clothbound Classics edition 
 
‘When My Family and Other Animals was published it was as if someone had flung back the curtains, thrown up the windows and let in a stream of bright light’ - Kathryn Hughes, Guardian 
 
‘Gerald Durrell was magic’ - Sir David Attenborough 
 
‘Living in Corfu was rather like living in one of the more flamboyant and slapstick comic operas’ 
It is 1935 and the Durrells have escaped the leaden summer skies of Bournemouth to arrive ‘like a troupe of medieval tumblers’ on the sun-drenched island of Corfu for a new life. Gerald Durrell’s beloved portrayal of his chaotic family – beatific Mother, Roger the dog, diet-obsessed Margo, book-loving Lawrence and gun-wielding Leslie – as well as his own adventures with a burgeoning menagerie of beasts, birds and insects (including an owl called Ulysses), is a timeless account of an idyllic childhood and an uproarious portrait of the English abroad.

Glorious hilarity … a comic masterpiece

This enchanting autobiographical account of his idyllic Corfu childhood and early fascination with the animal kingdom was … a bible for adults and children alike

A heart-warmingly affectionate portrait of Corfu and its inhabitants, utterly evocative of sun-soaked summer holidays

When My Family and Other Animals was published in 1956 it was as if someone had flung back the curtains, thrown up the windows and let in a stream of bright light

One of the finest and most lyrical of nature writers in English

A lot of frolic, fun and charming ribaldry, as well as the warm feeling of having been transported to a lovely spot where worry is unknown and anything is believable

Durrell has an uncanny knack of discovering human as well as animal eccentricities

If animals, birds and insects could speak, they would possibly award Mr Gerald Durrell one of their first Nobel prizes

Animals come close to being Durrell's best friends. He writes about them with style, verve and humour

Gerald Durrell was born in Jamshedpur, India, in 1925. He returned to England in 1928 before settling on the island of Corfu with his family. In 1945 he joined the staff of Whipsnade Park as a student keeper, and in 1947 he led his first animal-collecting expedition to the Cameroons. He later undertook numerous further expeditions, visiting Paraguay, Argentina, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Mauritius, Assam and Madagascar. His first television programme, Two in the Bush¸ which documented his travels to New Zealand, Australia and Malaya was made in 1962; he went on to make seventy programmes about his trips around the world. In 1959 he founded the Jersey Zoological Park, and in 1964 he founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. He was awarded the OBE in 1982. Encouraged to write about his life's work by his brother, Durrell published his first book, The Overloaded Ark, in 1953. It soon became a bestseller and he went on to write thirty-six other titles, including My Family and Other Animals, The Bafut Beagles, Encounters with Animals, The Drunken Forest, A Zoo in My Luggage, The Whispering Land, Menagerie Manor, The Amateur Naturalist and The Aye-Aye and I. Gerald Durrell died in 1995.

‘Living in Corfu was rather like living in one of the more flamboyant and slapstick comic operas’ 
 
It is 1935 and the Durrells have escaped the leaden summer skies of Bournemouth to arrive ‘like a troupe of medieval tumblers’ on the sun-drenched island of Corfu for a new life. Gerald Durrell’s beloved portrayal of his chaotic family – beatific Mother, Roger the dog, diet-obsessed Margo, book-loving Lawrence and gun-wielding Leslie – as well as his own adventures with a burgeoning menagerie of beasts, birds and insects (including an owl called Ulysses), is a timeless account of an idyllic childhood and an uproarious portrait of the English abroad.

Beasts in My Belfry

‘A renegade who was right . . . He was truly a man before his time’ SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH 
 
‘An account of Durrell’s very first job, as an animal handler at Whipsnade, just after the end of the Second World War, an experience that helped fashion his philosophy of animal keeping’ GUARDIAN 
 
At the age of two I made up my mind quite firmly and unequivocally that the only thing I wanted to do was to study animals. Nothing else interested me. 
 
Republished to celebrate the centenary of his birth, here is Gerald Durrell’s legendary account of his coming-of-age as a reader, writer and budding naturalist at Whipsnade Zoo. He joyfully recaptures the glory of this single formative year where, in the crucible of muck, operatic brown bears, and reading Pliny by night and tending to the lions by day, the passionate worldview of one of the century’s great animal-loving renegades came into full view. 
 
‘One of the finest and most lyrical nature writers in English’ OBSERVER

Menagerie Manor

A classic Gerald Durrell title reissued by Penguin to celebrate the centenary of his birth 
 
'Gerald Durrell was magic' SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH 
 
Menagerie Manor chronicles the early, sunlit days of Gerald Durrell’s dream to create a sanctuary for animals, realized Les Augrès Manor in Trinity, Jersey. Here we encounter Leo the lion, who enjoys roaring solidly through the night; N’Pongo the gorilla who thinks nothing of boarding a small plane to be part of a BBC documentary; and Claudius the South American tapir, an escape art of Houdini-like cunning. 
 
Republished to celebrate the centenary of Durrell’s birth, this book is a testament to the enduring importance of conservation in a changing world, and the profound connection between the human and animal kingdoms. 
 
'This book is a certain joy' NEW STATESMAN 
 
'Animals come close to being Durrell's best friends. . . . He writes about them with style, verve, and humour' TIME

Birds, Beasts, and Relatives

Volume Two of Gerald Durrell’s beloved account of his childhood in Corfu, now in Penguin Modern Classics for the first time 
 
'A lot of frolic, fun and charming ribaldry, as well as the warm feeling of having been transported to a lovely spot where worry is unknown and anything is believable' - The New York Times 
 
‘Another tiger-golden day lay ahead of us. It was as though England had never really existed’ 
 
The Durrell clan’s escapades on their Greek island home resume with the second volume of the Corfu Trilogy. Budding zoologist Gerald continues to explore the natural wonders around him, enjoying a night fishing trip, receiving a donkey as a birthday present and accidentally bringing a bear home for tea. Here too are more stories of the eccentric creatures he calls his family, including Margo’s ill-advised foray into spiritualism and what becomes known as ‘Mother’s Great Romance’. Ending as the Second World War is declared, Birds, Beasts and Relatives is an enchanting return to a magical place.

‘Another tiger-golden day lay ahead of us. It was as though England had never really existed’ 
 
The Durrell clan’s escapades on their Greek island home resume with the second volume of the Corfu Trilogy. Budding zoologist Gerald continues to explore the natural wonders around him, enjoying a night fishing trip, receiving a donkey as a birthday present and accidentally bringing a bear home for tea. Here too are more stories of the eccentric creatures he calls his family, including Margo’s ill-advised foray into spiritualism and what becomes known as ‘Mother’s Great Romance’. Ending as the Second World War is declared, Birds, Beasts and Relatives is an enchanting return to a magical place.

The Garden of the Gods

Gerald Durrell’s beloved account of his childhood in Corfu, now in Penguin Modern Classics for the first time 
 
'Durrell has an uncanny knack of discovering human as well as animal eccentricities' - Sunday Telegraph 
 
‘My collection of animals swelled to a point where even Mother occasionally grew alarmed’ 
 
The island of Corfu, where the Durrell family live in agreeable chaos, is paradise for aspiring naturalist Gerald. His battalion of creatures has grown to include eleven puppies, a toad named Dierdre and an unwelcome infestation of scorpions. Yet the human visitors to their sun-drenched villa are even more curious, whether it is an innocent pair of American painters ripe for practical jokes, or a supercilious Count who barely survives an outing on Gerald’s home-made boat, the Bootle-bumtrinket. The third volume in the Corfu Trilogy brings this glorious tale of halcyon days to a close.

Durrell effortlessly immerses us in glittering bays and sun-shined olive groves

This book will delight many readers, even those who can't stand spiders

‘My collection of animals swelled to a point where even Mother occasionally grew alarmed’ 
 
The island of Corfu, where the Durrell family live in agreeable chaos, is paradise for aspiring naturalist Gerald. His battalion of creatures has grown to include eleven puppies, a toad named Dierdre and an unwelcome infestation of scorpions. Yet the human visitors to their sun-drenched villa are even more curious, whether it is an innocent pair of American painters ripe for practical jokes, or a supercilious Count who barely survives an outing on Gerald’s home-made boat, the Bootle-bumtrinket. The third volume in the Corfu Trilogy brings this glorious tale of halcyon days to a close.

My Family and Other Animals is the bewitching account of a rare and magical childhood on the island of Corfu by treasured British conservationist Gerald Durrell. 
 
Escaping the ills of the British climate, the Durrell family - acne-ridden Margo, gun-toting Leslie, bookworm Lawrence and budding naturalist Gerry, along with their long-suffering mother and Roger the dog - take off for the island of Corfu. 
 
But the Durrells find that, reluctantly, they must share their various villas with a menagerie of local fauna - among them scorpions, geckos, toads, bats and butterflies. 
 
Recounted with immense humour and charm My Family and Other Animals is a wonderful account of a rare, magical childhood. 
 
'Durrell has an uncanny knack of discovering human as well as animal eccentricities' Sunday Telegraph 
 
'A bewitching book' Sunday Times

Durrell has an uncanny knack of discovering human as well as animal eccentricities

Escaping the ills of the British climate, the Durrell family - acne-ridden Margo, gun-toting Leslie, bookworm Lawrence and budding naturalist Gerry, along with their long-suffering mother and Roger the dog - take off for the island of Corfu. 
 
But the Durrells find that, reluctantly, they must share their various villas with a menagerie of local fauna - among them scorpions, geckos, toads, bats and butterflies. 
 
Recounted with immense humour and charm My Family and Other Animals is a wonderful account of a rare, magical childhood.

Birds, Beasts and Relatives

The follow up to My Family and Other Animals and the second book in The Corfu Trilogy, the beloved books that inspired ITV's television series The Durrells. 
 
In this second collection of tales concerning the Durrell family on the island of Corfu, young Gerry continues to be captivated by the fascinating flora and fauna of their adopted home - much to the bemusement and upset of his long suffering siblings and mother. 
 
Whether it's lamp fishing by night or roving the countryside with his mentor Theodore, Gerry encounters intoxicated hedgehogs, tarantulas, dung beetles, water spiders and other animals, some of which become the family's very unwanted pets. 
 
'A wild and amusing chronicle' Daily Express 
 
'This book, an evocation of a budding naturalist's life as a boy on Corfu, will delight many readers, even those who can't stand spiders...' Evening Standard 
 
'Delightful, charming, funny' The Times

In this second collection of tales concerning the Durrell family on the island of Corfu, young Gerry continues to be captivated by the fascinating flora and fauna of their adopted home - much to the bemusement and upset of his long suffering siblings and mother. 
 
Whether it's lamp fishing by night or roving the countryside with his mentor Theodore, Gerry encounters intoxicated hedgehogs, tarantulas, dung beetles, water spiders and other animals, some of which become the family's very unwanted pets.

The third book in The Corfu Trilogy (after My Family and Other Animals and Birds, Beasts and Relatives), the beloved books that inspired ITV's television series The Durrells. 
 
Just before the Second World War the Durrell family decamped to the glorious, sun-soaked island of Corfu where the youngest of the four children, ten-year-old Gerald, discovered his passion for animals: toads and tortoises, bats and butterflies, scorpions and octopuses. Through glorious silver-green olive groves and across brilliant-white beaches Gerry pursued his obsession . . . causing hilarity and mayhem in his ever-tolerant family. 
 
'A wild and amusing chronicle' Daily Express 
 
'This book, an evocation of a budding naturalist's life as a boy on Corfu, will delight many readers, even those who can't stand spiders...' Evening Standard 
 
'Delightful, charming, funny' The Times

In the concluding volume of the Corfu trilogy, telling of the Durrell family's five-year sojourn on the idyllic Greek island before the Second World War, young Gerry is turning into the passionate zoologist he has long threatened to become - much to his family's horror. 
 
Whether it's rams attacking their guests or eleven puppies seeking a new home or invasions of scorpions, spiders and geckoes, young Gerry is in heaven. His family, on the other hand, wonder if this is hell . . .

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

Durrell has an uncanny knack of discovering human as well as animal eccentricities' Sunday Telegraph 
 
Ten-year-old Gerald doesn't know why his older brothers and sisters complain so much. 
 
With snakes in the bath and scorpions on the lunch table, the family home on the Greek island of Corfu is a bit like a zoo so they should feel right at home... 
 
 Gerald joyfully pursues his interest in natural history in the midst of an unconventional and chaotic family life - all brilliantly retold in this very funny book.

Ten-year-old Gerald doesn't know why his older brothers and sisters complain so much. With snakes in the bath and scorpions on the lunch table, the family home on the Greek island of Corfu is a bit like a zoo so they should feel right at home... 
Gerald joyfully pursues his interest in natural history in the midsts of an unconventional and chaotic family life - all brilliantly retold in this very funny book.

BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatization

Celia Imrie and Toby Jones star in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Gerald Durrell's classic story about his family's life in pre-war Corfu. The specially created soundtrack takes the story out of the studio and into the Greek wilderness that enthralled Durrell the young naturalist.

Gerald Durrell, OBE (1925 – 1995) was an English naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author, and television presenter. He founded what is now called the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo (now Durrell Wildlife Park) on the Channel Island of Jersey in 1958, but is perhaps best remembered for writing a number of books based on his life as an animal collector and enthusiast. He was the youngest brother of novelist Lawrence Durrell. [source: Wikipedia]

Celia Imrie and Toby Jones star in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Gerald Durrell's much-loved comic gem. 
 
My Family and Other Animals is the classic tale of naturalist Gerald Durrell's magical 1930s childhood on pre-war Corfu. His descriptions of his eccentric family and his encounters with the local creatures are full of humour and charm, and the book has delighted readers of all ages for sixty years. 
 
Ten-year-old Gerry is the youngest member of the Durrell family, which also consists of Mother, pompous eldest son Larry, gun-mad second son Leslie, acne-ridden sister Margo, and Roger the dog. 
 
When they arrive in Corfu, Gerry is thrilled to find a paradise of exotic wildlife to be explored. Soon he is embarking on natural history expeditions, swimming in the clearblue sea and befriending the island's inhabitants.Gerry's relatives are less impressed with his exploits, especially when his burgeoning animal collection sparks chaos at the family's Christmas party... 
 
With a specially created soundtrack, this vivid adaptation takes the story out of the studio and into the Greek wilderness that enthralled Durrell the young naturalist. Duration: 2 hours approx.

The Aye-Aye and I

A renegade who was right . . . He was truly a man before his time

Gerald Durrell was born in Jamshedpur, India, in 1925. He returned to England in 1928 before settling on the island of Corfu with his family. In 1945 he joined the staff of Whipsnade Park as a student keeper, and in 1947 he led his first animal-collecting expedition to the Cameroons. He later undertook numerous further expeditions, visiting Paraguay, Argentina, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Mauritius, Assam and Madagascar. His first television programme, Two in the Bush¸ which documented his travels to New Zealand, Australia and Malaya was made in 1962; he went on to make seventy programmes about his trips around the world. He was awarded the OBE in 1982. Encouraged to write about his life's work by his brother, Durrell published his first book, The Overloaded Ark, in 1953. It soon became a bestseller and he went on to write thirty-six other titles, including My Family and Other Animals, The Bafut Beagles, Encounters with Animals, The Whispering Land, Menagerie Manor, The Amateur Naturalist and The Aye-Aye and I. Gerald Durrell died in 1995.

'In the gloom it came along the branches towards me, its round, hypnotic eyes blazing, its spoon-like ears turning to and fro independently like radar dishes . . . it was Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky come to life . . . one of the most incredible creatures I had ever been privileged to meet.' 
 
The fourth largest island in the world, Madagascar is home to woodlice the size of golf balls, moths the size of Regency fans and the Aye-Aye, a type of lemur held by local superstion to be an omen of death. But when Gerald Durrell visited the island, the destruction of the forests meant that the Aye-Aye and many other creatures were in danger of extinction. 
Told with his unique sense of humour and inimitable charm, Gerald Durrell's The Aye Aye and I is the final adventure from one of Britain's best loved conservationists.

Encounters with Animals

Gerald Durrell was born in Jamshedpur, India, in 1925. He returned to England in 1928 before settling on the island of Corfu with his family. In 1945 he joined the staff of Whipsnade Park as a student keeper, and in 1947 he led his first animal-collecting expedition to the Cameroons. He later undertook numerous further expeditions, visiting Paraguay, Argentina, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Mauritius, Assam and Madagascar. His first television programme, Two in the Bush¸ which documented his travels to New Zealand, Australia and Malaya was made in 1962; he went on to make seventy programmes about his trips around the world. In 1959 he founded the Jersey Zoological Park, and in 1964 he founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. He was awarded the OBE in 1982. Encouraged to write about his life's work by his brother, Durrell published his first book, The Overloaded Ark, in 1953. It soon became a bestseller and he went on to write thirty-six other titles, including My Family and Other Animals, The Bafut Beagles, Encounters with Animals, The Drunken Forest, A Zoo in My Luggage, The Whispering Land, Menagerie Manor, The Amateur Naturalist and The Aye-Aye and I. Gerald Durrell died in 1995.

'I once travelled back from Africa on a ship with an Irish captain who did not like animals. This was unfortunate, because most of my luggage consisted of about two hundred odd cages of assorted wildlife . . .' 
 
Gerald Durrell's accounts of the animals he encountered on his travels were some of the first widely shared descriptions of the world's most extraordinary animals. 
 
Moving from the West Coast of Africa to the northern tip of South America - and elsewhere - Durrell observes the courtships, wars and characters of a variety of creatures, from birds of paradise, to ants and anteaters, among others.

The Whispering Land

An amusing writer who transforms this Argentine backcountry into a particularly inviting place

A delight, with never a dull moment from Buenos Aires to Patagonia, thanks to Durrell's extraordinary ability to communicate his exuberant pleasure in his chosen work

'When you have a large collection of animals to transport from one end of the world to the other you cannot, as a lot of people seem to think, just hoist them aboard the nearest ship and set off with a gay wave of your hand.' 
 
Gerald Durrell and his wife are the proud owners of a small zoo on the island of Jersey. But there's one thing that's better than a small zoo - a bigger one! So Durrell heads off to South America to collect more animals. 
 
Along windswept Patagonian shores and in Argentine tropical forests, he encounters a range of animals from penguins to elephant seals. But as always, he is drawn to those rare and interesting creatures which he hopes will thrive and breed in captivity . . . 
 
Told with enthusiasm and without sentimentality, Gerald Durrell's The Whispering Land is an often hilarious but always inspiring foray into the South American wilds.

A Zoo in My Luggage

'For many years I had wanted to start a zoo . . . any reasonable person smitten with an ambition of this sort would have secured the zoo first and obtained the animals afterwards. but throughout my life I have rarely if ever achieved what I wanted by tackling it in a logical fashion.' 
 
A Zoo in My Luggage is Gerald Durrell's account of his attempt to set up his own zoo, after years spent gathering animals for other zoos. Journeying to Cameroon, he and his wife collected numerous mammals, birds and reptiles, including Cholmondely the chimpanzee and Bug-eye the bush-baby. 
 
But their problems really began when they attempted to return with their exotic menagerie. Not only had they to get them safely home to Britain but they also had to find somewhere able and - most of all - willing to house them. 
 
Told with wit and a zest for all things furry and feathered, Gerald Durrell's A Zoo in My Luggage is a brilliant account of how a pioneer of wildlife preservation came to found a new type of zoo.

The Corfu Trilogy

The Corfu Trilogy is published for the first time in one volume.

*The classic trilogy set in sun-soaked Corfu that inspired ITV's acclaimed TV series The Durrells* 
 
Three classic tales of childhood on an island paradise - My Family and Other Animals, Birds, Beasts and Relatives and The Garden of the Gods by Gerald Durrell - are available in a single edition for the first time in The Corfu Trilogy. 
 
Just before the Second World War the Durrell family decamped to the glorious, sun-soaked island of Corfu where the youngest of the four children, ten-year-old Gerald, discovered his passion for animals: toads and tortoises, bats and butterflies, scorpions and octopuses. Through glorious silver-green olive groves and across brilliant-white beaches Gerry pursued his obsession . . . causing hilarity and mayhem in his ever-tolerant family. 
 
'A delightful book full of simple, well-known things: cicadas in the olive groves, lamp fishing at night, the complexities of fish and animals - but, above all, childhood moulded by these things' New York Times

Born in India in 1925, Gerald Durrell settled on Corfu with his family as a boy, and immediately became fascinated by the island's natural history. He spent much of his time studying the local wildlife and kept numerous, and often unusual, pets. He grew up to be a famous naturalist, animal-collector and conservationist. Over his lifetime he wrote 37 books, went on dozens of animal-collecting trips and presented numerous TV shows. He founded Jersey Zoo in 1959 as a centre for the conservation of endangered species, and created the Jersey Wildlife Conservation Trust in 1963. Gerald ran the Zoo from its foundation until his death in 1995, and his wife Lee is still Honorary Director of the Trust.

The Corfu Trilogy consists of the popular classic My Family and Other Animals and its delightful sequels, Birds, Beasts and Relatives and The Garden of the Gods. All three books are set on the enchanted island of Corfu in the 1930s, and tell the story of the eccentic English family who moved there. 
 
For Gerald, the budding zoologist, Corfu was a natural paradise, teeming with strange birds and beasts that he could collect, watch and care for. But life was not without its problems - his family often objected to his animal-collecting activities, especially when the beasts wound up in the villa or - even worse - the fridge. 
 
With hilarious yet endearing portraits of his family and their many unusual hangers-on, The Corfu Trilogy also captures the beginnings of the author's lifelong love of animals. Recounted with immense humour and charm, this wonderful account of Corfu's natural history reveals a rare, magical childhood. 
 
 
For the passionate zoologist, Corfu was a natural paradise, teeming with strange birds and beasts that he could collect, watch and care for. But life was not without its problems - Gerald's family often objected to his animal-collecting activities, especially when the beasts wound up in the family's villa or - even worse - the fridge. 
 
Gerald Durrell evokes his island paradise with passion and wonder.

Gerald Durrell

Nature’s most rapt inspector, ally and celebrant . . . I could read about Durrell’s wildlife encounters all day . . . a wise, genial and world-encompassing book

Fills important gaps in the biographical narrative . . . Truly, there is magic here

A moving tribute to Gerald's endeavours and achievements as a conservationist

Funny and readable and hugely charming . . . Durrell really can write like a dream . . . This book is a charming tribute to him: a reminder of his beliefs, and of his ability to make you laugh while making you think

Sparkling descriptions of animal behaviour are the beating heart of Durrell’s accounts of trips to Cameroon, Guyana, New Zealand, Mauritius, Madagascar and elsewhere . . . Durrell’s concern for species extinction thrums throughout Myself and Other Animals

Celebrates his extraordinary life in technicolour

Reading Myself & Other Animals makes you feel like an archaeologist uncovering an ancient mosaic. As you leaf through a section, you reveal the colourful sparkle of a new fragment. It isn’t a complete picture, but by the end, you can see enough to feel you know Gerald Durrell just that bit better . . . earns its place in the pantheon of Durrell’s books

Replete with characters of feathers, fur and fin, it offers an intimate picture of the naturalist and his travels

A generous and magnificent achievement – an autobiography, of sorts, composed of excerpts both well-known and rare, each carrying Durrell’s distinctive, engaging and entertaining voice. A century on from the beloved conservationist’s birth, when so many forms of life remain at risk of extinction, it also stands as an important call to action before it’s too late

Julian Hoffman, author of Lifelines and Irreplaceable

A final posthumous work from the beloved conservationist and naturalist Gerald Durrell, to celebrate the centenary of his birth, with a new foreword by HRH Princess Anne. 
 
‘Gerald Durrell was magic’ SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH • ‘One of the finest and most lyrical nature writers in English’ OBSERVER 
 
Myself and Other Animals is a new book mosaicked from unpublished autobiographies, uncollected pieces and previously published extracts from Durrell’s work and archives. The result is an extraordinary journey through Durrell’s life in his own words, edited and introduced by his widow Lee Durrell. 
 
Drawing on a memoir that Durrell started writing before he became too ill to continue it, and an unfinished book from a trip to Australia in 1969 to the Great Barrier Reef, Northern Territory and Queensland, here is the unvarnished story of Durrell’s life, from touching family tributes to golden bats and pink pigeons. 
 
Moving from India to England and then to the always sun-lit Corfu, told with dry wit and insight into our fellow animals, here is the vivid finale of one of Britain’s most beloved conservationists and prose stylists.

Gerald Durrell

Praise for Myself and Other Animals

Nature’s most rapt inspector, ally and celebrant . . . I could read about Durrell’s wildlife encounters all day . . . a wise, genial and world-encompassing book

Fills important gaps in the biographical narrative . . . Truly, there is magic here

A moving tribute to Gerald's endeavours and achievements as a conservationist

Nature’s most rapt inspector, ally and celebrant . . . I could read about Durrell’s wildlife encounters all day . . . a wise, genial and world-encompassing book

Fills important gaps in the biographical narrative . . . Truly, there is magic here

A moving tribute to Gerald's endeavours and achievements as a conservationist

Nature’s most rapt inspector, ally and celebrant . . . I could read about Durrell’s wildlife encounters all day . . . a wise, genial and world-encompassing book

Fills important gaps in the biographical narrative . . . Truly, there is magic here

A moving tribute to Gerald's endeavours and achievements as a conservationist

Books by Gerald Durrell

Series by Gerald Durrell

The Corfu Trilogy3 Books

The Corfu Trilogy3 Books

Articles featuring Gerald Durrell

9 holiday reads set in Greece

9 must-read classic children’s books, as chosen by our readers

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