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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

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

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.

Menagerie Manor

A classic Gerald Durrell title reissued by Penguin to celebrate the centenary of his birth 
 
The Manor of the title is Les Augrès Manor in Trinity, Jersey. Inside, we find a remarkable collection of pen portraits of some of the creatures of Gerald Durrell's Zoo. We also discover some of the timeless lessons Durrell learned about making real and sustaining his childhood ambition of having his own zoo - and why conservation matters more than ever. 
 
One of Gerald Durrell's most beloved titles is back in print as a Penguin paperback to celebrate the centenary of his birth. 
 
'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.

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

‘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

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

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.

Myself and Other Animals

A 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 
‘A wise, genial and world-encompassing book’ SUNDAY TIMES 
‘Fills important gaps in the biographical narrative . . . Truly, there is magic here’ GUARDIAN 
 
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. 
 
'Funny and readable and hugely charming' i 
 
‘One of the finest and most lyrical nature writers in English’ OBSERVER 
 
'A moving tribute to Gerald's endeavours and achievements as a conservationist' SPECTATOR

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

My Family and Other Animals

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.

Gerald Durrell

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

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

‘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.

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Gerald Durrell

Praise for My Family and Other Animals

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

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

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

Books by Gerald Durrell

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A Puffin Book118 Books

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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