My Family and Other Animals
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  • Published: 23 April 2025
  • ISBN: 9780241762943
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $24.99

My Family and Other Animals

Formats & editions
Paperback
23 Apr 2025
Paperback
19 Jun 2017
Paperback
30 Jan 2017
Paperback
13 May 2011
Paperback
1 Sep 2008
EBook
20 Apr 2017
Audiobook
7 Apr 2016
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Gerald Durrell’s beloved account of his childhood in Corfu, now in Penguin Modern Classics for the first time

‘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.
  • Published: 23 April 2025
  • ISBN: 9780241762943
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $24.99
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About the author

Gerald Durrell

Gerald Durrell (1925-1995) moved from England to Corfu with his family when he was eight. He spent much of his time studying the island's wildlife and surprising his family by keeping lots of very unusual pets in very unexpected places. He grew up to be a famous naturalist and conservationist, leading expeditions to exotic places such as Argentina, Sierra Leone, Assam and Madagascar. Durrell dedicated his life to the preservation of wildlife, especially the less glamorous kinds, which he called 'little brown jobs' and 'small uglies'. It is through his efforts that creatures such as the Mauritius pink pigeon and the Mallorcan midwife toad have avoided extinction.

Over his lifetime he presented many TV shows, and wrote thirty-seven books, including My Family and Other Animals and its two sequels,Birds, Beasts and Relatives and The Garden of the Gods. He founded Jersey Zoo in 1959 as a centre for the conservation of endangered species, and in 1963 created the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust - later renamed Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in his honour - of which his wife, Lee, is still Honorary Director. He was awarded the OBE in 1982.

Also by Gerald Durrell

Myself and Other Animals
Menagerie Manor
Beasts in My Belfry
Birds, Beasts, and Relatives
Birds, Beasts And Relatives
The Garden of the Gods
The Aye-Aye and I
See all

Praise for My Family and Other Animals

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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