The Corfu Trilogy


Book Description

National Bestseller: The complete trilogy that inspired Masterpiece production The Durrells in Corfu in one volume. The tales of a naturalist and his family, who left England for the Greek island of Corfu—where they interacted with fascinating locals of both human and animal varieties—these memoirs have become beloved bestsellers and inspired the delightful series that aired on PBS television. Included in this three-book collection are: My Family and Other Animals: Ten-year-old Gerald Durrell arrives on sun-drenched Corfu with this family and pursues his interest in natural history, making friends with the island’s fauna—from toads and tortoises to scorpions and geckos—while reveling in the joyous chaos of growing up in an unconventional household. Birds, Beasts and Relatives: Written after a boyhood spent studying zoology, this memoir is part nature guide, part coming-of-age tale, and all charmingly funny memoir. The Garden of the Gods: In the conclusion of the trilogy, Durrell shares more tales of wild animals and his even wilder family, including his mother, Louisa, and his siblings Lawrence, Leslie, and Margo, in the years before World War II. “[Durrell’s] books have an unfailing charm. . . . It is a tribute to his skill that one never tires of his accounts” (Chicago Tribune). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Gerald Durrell including rare photos from the author’s estate.




My Family and Other Animals


Book Description

'What we all need,' said Larry, 'is sunshine . . . a country where we can grow.' 'Yes, dear, that would be nice,' agreed Mother, not really listening. 'I had a letter from George this morning - he says Corfu's wonderful. Why don't we pack up and go to Greece?' 'Very well, dear, if you like,' said Mother unguardedly. 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




Birds, Beasts and Relatives


Book Description

The follow-up to My Family and Other Animals and the inspiration for The Durrells in Corfu: A naturalist’s memoir of his family’s time on a Greek island. In the years before World War II, Gerald Durrell’s family left the gloomy shores of England for the sun-drenched island of Corfu. Against this picturesque backdrop, Durrell fondly recalls his family’s disorderly household and outrageous antics, including their interactions with locals of both human and animal varieties. After a boyhood spent studying zoology and acquiring the island’s exotic insects, reptiles, birds, mammals, and sea creatures as pets, Durrell’s budding naturalism would later bloom into a passion for conservation that would last a lifetime. Filled with clever observations, amusing anecdotes, and childlike wonder, Birds, Beasts and Relatives is half nature guide, half coming-of-age tale, and all charmingly funny memoir. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Gerald Durrell including rare photos from the author’s estate.




The Garden of the Gods


Book Description

Part of the trilogy of memoirs that inspired the television show The Durrells in Corfu: A naturalist’s adventures with animals—and humans—on a Greek island. When his family moved to a Greek island, young naturalist Gerald Durrell was able to indulge his passion for wildlife of all sorts as he discovered the new world around him—and the creatures and people who inhabited it. Indeed, Durrell’s years growing up on Corfu would inspire the rest of his life. In addition to his tales of wild animals, Durrell recounts stories about his even wilder family—including his widowed mother, Louisa, and elder siblings Lawrence, Leslie, and Margo—with undeniable wit and humor. The final chapter in Durrell’s reflections on his family’s time in Greece before the start of World War II, The Garden of the Gods is a fascinating look at the childhood of a naturalist who was ahead of his time. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Gerald Durrell including rare photos from the author’s estate.




The Durrells of Corfu


Book Description

The Durrell family are immortalised in Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals and its ITV adaptation, The Durrells. But what of the real life Durrells? Why did they go to Corfu in the first place - and what happened to them after they left? The real story of the Durrells is as surprising and fascinating as anything in Gerry's books, and Michael Haag, with his first hand knowledge of the family, is the ideal narrator, drawing on diaries, letters and unpublished autobiographical fragments. The Durrells of Corfu describes the family's upbringing in India and the crisis that brought them to England and then Greece. It recalls the genuine characters they encountered on Corfu - Theodore the biologist, the taxi driver Spiro Halikiopoulos and the prisoner Kosti - as well as the visit of American writer Henry Miller. And Haag has unearthed the story of how the Durrells left Corfu, including Margo's and Larry's last-minute escapes before the War. An extended epilogue looks at the emergence of Larry as a world famous novelist, and Gerry as a naturalist and champion of endangered species, as well as the lives of the rest of the family, their friends and other animals. The book is illustrated with family photos from the Gerald Durrell Archive, many of them reproduced here for the first time.




Whatever Happened to Margo?


Book Description

In 1947, with two young children to support, Margaret Durrell took the advice of her maiden aunt and started a boarding house in Bournemouth. But any hopes of a conventional clientele were dashed as the establishment was colonized by a host of eccentrics, comprising, among others, a painter of nudes, a battered wife, a chauvinist bricklayer, and a Maltese transsexual.




The Whispering Land


Book Description

Naturalist Gerald Durrell recalls his expedition to South America to find exotic animals in this follow-up to A Zoo in My Luggage. After bringing multiple species of African animals back to the Channel Island of Jersey to populate their new zoo, British naturalist Gerald Durrell and his wife followed their passion for wildlife preservation on a journey to South America. With a team of helpers, they spent eight months on safari searching for exotic specimens. Through windswept Patagonian shores and tropical forests in the Argentine, from ocelots to penguins, fur seals to parrots to pumas, the author who inspired the public television drama The Durrells in Corfu captures the landscape and its inhabitants with his signature charm and humor. Filled with adventure, exploration, and the spirit of conservation, The Whispering Land is a memoir that animal lovers of all ages will enjoy. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Gerald Durrell including rare photos from the author’s estate.




Rosy Is My Relative


Book Description

“An ‘almost true’ tale” of a man’s adventures inheriting an elephant, so “lovingly embellished . . . you’ll almost wish that you had a Rosy in your family too”—from the author of the Corfu Trilogy (Kirkus Reviews). When his uncle passes away unexpectedly, young Adrian Rookwhistle’s inheritance turns his humdrum life upside down. Instead of a manor house, Adrian has been bequeathed Rosy, an elephant whose predilection for fine spirits leads to high jinks far beyond the means of a shy English gentleman. Convinced that a circus will take the troublesome tusker off his hands, Adrian leads Rosy on a trek to the coast, setting in motion an uproarious adventure of mammoth proportions. Author Gerald Durrell promises that despite being embellished here and there, “nearly all the adventures in this book really happened.” Ultimately, this tale of a pachyderm with a penchant for pandemonium guarantees pure entertainment. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Gerald Durrell including rare photos from the author’s estate.




On Foot to Canterbury


Book Description

Setting off on foot from Winchester, Ken Haigh hikes across southern England, retracing one of the traditional routes that medieval pilgrims followed to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Walking in honour of his father, a staunch Anglican who passed away before they could begin their trip together, Haigh wonders: Is there a place in the modern secular world for pilgrimage? On his journey, he sorts through his own spiritual aimlessness while crossing paths with writers like Anthony Trollope, John Keats, Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens, and, of course, Geoffrey Chaucer. Part travelogue, part memoir, and part literary history, On Foot to Canterbury is engaging and delightful. "My father didn't need this walk, not the way I do. For him it would have been a fun way to spend some time with his son. He had, I begin to realize, a talent for living in the moment Perhaps a pilgrimage would help me find happiness. Perhaps I could walk my way into a better frame of mind, and somehow along the road to Canterbury I would find a new purpose for my life. It was worth a shot." Audio edition from PRH available from Audible, Kobo, Google, and Apple Books.