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.
Glorious hilarity … a comic masterpiece -- Meg Rosoff * Guardian * This enchanting autobiographical account of his idyllic Corfu childhood and early fascination with the animal kingdom was … a bible for adults and children alike * Guardian * A heart-warmingly affectionate portrait of Corfu and its inhabitants, utterly evocative of sun-soaked summer holidays -- Alison Flood * Guardian * 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 -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian * Gerald Durrell was magic -- Sir David Attenborough One of the finest and most lyrical of nature writers in English * Observer * 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 * New York Times * Durrell has an uncanny knack of discovering human as well as animal eccentricities * Sunday Telegraph * If animals, birds and insects could speak, they would possibly award Mr Gerald Durrell one of their first Nobel prizes * Times Literary Supplement * Animals come close to being Durrell's best friends. He writes about them with style, verve and humour * Time *
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