MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS

by Gerald Durrell ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 8, 1957

Durrell's department of natural history has found him a devoted audience which has come to expect his animals to be as entertaining as his humans and here is the ultimate reward. For this is the account of a stay on Corfu, when he was a ten year old, and his Mother, gentle, fluttering and sometimes firm, Larry, literary-minded and a constant critic, Leslie, dedicated to his guns, and Margo, whose romances are things of sharpest emotion, are fixed, if vehement, orbits in his pursuit of everything that walks, flies, crawls, swims. Taken under the wing of Spiro, who had visited America, they settle in the pink villa, move to a yellow one, land in a white one; they have a symptom-dwelling maid; they acquire a variety of friends and guests; they succumb to the insidious magic of an island. Young Gerry must be educated so there is George, who practices local dances and fencing during lessons, which come out on the side; there is Theodore, a scientist and Gerry's source of information; the Belgian consul, who shoots cats, takes over French. Peter comes from Oxford as a tutor and is replaced by Mr. Kralefsky whose mother has talking flowers, and in his non-educative times Gerry is turning their houses into death traps. From one dog there are five, there is an owl, magpies, snakes, tortoise, -- and on and on with one, then another creating havoc with Durrell tempers. And, of course, after a heavenly five years, the time comes to return to England. Hilarious family scenes, arguments and incidents, loving, alive nature observations, color and character among the pets, and bright sharp pictures of Corfu and its islanders -- this should bring joy to his followers.

Pub Date: April 8, 1957

ISBN: 0142004413

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1957

Categories: NONFICTION