Gerald Durrell – författare

Durrell has an uncanny knack of discovering human as well as animal eccentricities' Sunday TelegraphTen-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.

*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

The weather in England that summer had been so awful that Gerald's mother sold the family house and took her children to live on the Mediterranean island of Corfu. Between lessons, the ten-year-old Gerald was free to walk round the sunny island and discover the wonderful people and animals living there. This is the story of Gerald's adventures with the fascinating animals of Corfu, and, of course, with his surprising family and their friends.

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 Truly, there is magic here’ GUARDIAN Myself and Other Animals is a new book mosaicked from unpublished autobiographies, uncollected pieces and previously published extracts from Durrell’s work and archives.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

Gerald Durrell’s beloved account of his childhood in Corfu, now in Penguin Modern Classics for the first time ‘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.

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.

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.

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.

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, beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range.'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'A bewitching book' Sunday TimesGerald 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.

'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.

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

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

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

Gerald Durrell, director and owner of Jersey Zoo, was internationally famous for his amusing books about collecting wild animals. The Overloaded Ark, his first, remains his funniest book. It describes an expedition to the remote territory of the Cameroons in West Africa, before independence.'A delightful book . . . You can feel his bush-shirt sticking to his back . . . Bagging a monitor, smoking out a Pangolin (scaly anteater), celebrating the capture of the rare Angwantibo (small lemur), bird liming for Giant Kingfishers on the warm, milky waters of Lake Soden: he communicates every detail of his experiences with just the right degree of zest.' New Statesman

'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.

Beloved naturalist and author Gerald Durrell introduces an eccentric cast of characters in this entertaining collection of stories, first published in 1991.Which of these stories is true and which is semi-true I have, of course, not the slightest intention of telling you, but I hope this will not detract from your enjoyment . . .In the title story, part of the inspiration behind the ITV drama The Durrells, we join his family in Corfu, where Gerry joins forces with Larry and Margo in encouraging Mother to consider finding a new husband, only to rue the consequences. Highlights from the other tales in this collection are the acquisition of a strongly perfumed pig named Esmerelda, a foul-mouthed parrot called Moses, and a compulsive gambler who inspires a miracle.Written with Durrell’s usual sharp eye for observing humour in any situation, Marrying Off Mother will delight fans both old and new and is the perfect celebration of Durrell’s centenary.‘A renegade who was right . . . He was truly a man before his time’ – Sir David Attenborough

Written with Gerald Durrell’s usual sharp eye for observing humour in any situation, this comic novel about a man who inherits an alcoholic elephant will delight fans both old and new.At the age of thirty, Adrian Rookwhistle’s life hasn't quite turned out the way he’d have hoped. Working an unfulfilling job as a clerk in the city and living under the tyranny of his fearsome landlady, he can’t help but think that there is more to life.However, all of this suddenly changes when he receives a curious letter from his dying uncle who has bequeathed him £500 and an elephant by the name of Rosy who has a seemingly unquenchable thirst for liquor. At a loss of what to do with his unexpectedly gargantuan – and rarely sober – inheritance, Adrian sets forth on a journey believing to have the answer to his dilemma: he’ll give her away to the circus.Together Adrian and Rosy carve a trail of destruction through the peaceful countryside of southern England, meeting a curious cast of misfits along the way. Drunk or sober, Rosy spreads chaos in her wake, until the full weight of the law finally catches up with her . . .'Uproarious' – Dailly Mirror'Comic havoc!' – New York Times

Life with the Durrells is seldom straightforward.Dive headfirst into family adventures with this collection of laugh-out-loud short stories from the much-loved author of My Family and Other Animals.Notable tales include 'The Picnic', a hilarious account of an ill-fated Durrell excursion which should have been a relaxing, jolly affair, and ‘The Entrance’, the critically acclaimed Gothic horror story.Packed full of surreal Roald Dahlesque tales and anecdotal snippets recounted with Gerald Durrell's trademark sense of humour, The Picnic and Suchlike Pandemonium is a witty, genre-crossing read.If you can’t get enough of the Durrells, this is the book for you.

Embark on a captivating adventure through the Argentine Pampas and the little-known Chaco territory of Paraguay with Gerald Durrell, the much-loved author of My Family and Other Animals.A riveting account of one of Durrell's expeditions in search of rare animals, The Drunken Forest is informative, witty and guaranteed to have you laughing out loud. As you journey through the wilds you'll meet orange armadillos, horned toads and crab-eating raccoons, all brought to life with Durrell's wit and narrative flair, just as he portrays the chance human acquaintances he encounters along the route.With life seen through Durrell's clear, humorous and unsentimental eyes, The Drunken Forest is a triumph of nature writing from one of the world's most pioneering conservationists.'A renegade who was right . . . He was truly a man before his time' – Sir David Attenborough

'Most children at the tender age of six or so are generally full of the most impractical schemes for becoming policemen, firemen or engine drivers when they grow up . . . I knew exactly what I was going to do: I was going to have my own zoo.'Menagerie Manor is the hugely entertaining account of how much-loved conservationist and author Gerald Durrell fulfilled his lifelong ambition to found his own private sanctuary for endangered species in Jersey with the help of his wife, a selfless staff and a reluctant bank manager.With a foreword by Lee Durrell, Honorary Director of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, this book about the trials and wonders of living in the middle of a zoo is a classic that will continue to bring pleasure to those who grew up reading Durrell, and deserves a whole new readership.

Gerald Durrell is on his way to South America on a quest to capture specimens that have never before been brought back alive. And it turns into quite an adventure when he encounters timid squirrel monkeys, wailing rats, an overly affectionate bird christened Cuthbert and a bad-tempered anaconda!Three Singles to Adventure shows how bringing back a living collection of animals can be frustrating, exciting and damned hard work, but it’s never dull!

Two in the Bush is a record of the six-month journey which took Gerald Durrell, his wife Jacquie, and two cameramen through New Zealand, Australia and Malaya.The object was, first, to see what was being done about the conservation of wild life in these countries, and, secondly, to make a series of television films for the BBC. They were introduced to many rare and remarkable animals – royal albatrosses, tuataras, duck-billed platypuses, flying lizards and long-nosed bandicoots, as well as some equally unusual humans.Anyone who has read The Overloaded Ark, The Bafut Beagles or The Whispering Land will have enjoyed Gerald Durrell’s enthusiastic adventuring and his delight in the absurdity of the situations in which he finds himself. His observation of animal – and human – behaviour is always informative and often hilarious.

If you want to know how to make friends with an ant-eater, an electric eel, or a porcupine or a boa-constrictor, The New Noah is your book.Gerald Durrell goes around the world looking for wild animals, taking his natural curiosity, interest and affection along with him on these expeditions. In dealing with their antics and quirks, Durrell discovers how to feed and train them and prepare them for the zoos to which they are destined.This is a fascinating book, where the reader is introduced to a variety of charming and curious animals such as capybaras, hoatzins, and tucotucos, not to mention a tame curassow called Cuthbert.

When Gerald Durrell was six he told his mother that he intended to have his own zoo. The Ark's Anniversary is the story of how he achieved his ambition – and how his dream grew into The Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, a major world force in wildlife conservation.Whether the author is on the trail of a bank manager or a pygmy hog, whether he is courting patrons or tracking a Gunther's gecko, Durrell’s enthusiasm remains undiminished as he brings together a wonderful collection of rare and exotic animals in order to save them from extinction.