When the unconventional Durrell family can no longer endure the damp, gray English climate, they do what any sensible family would do: sell their house and relocate to the sunny Greek isle of Corfu. My Family and Other Animals was intended to embrace the natural history of the island but ended up as a delightful account of Durrell's family's experiences, from the many eccentric hangers-on to the ceaseless procession of puppies, toads, scorpions, geckoes,...

The inspiration for the PBS Masterpiece series, The Durrells in Corfu: A naturalist's childhood adventures with animals-and humans-on a Greek island. For a passionate animal lover like young Gerald Durrell, the island in the Ionian Sea was a natural paradise, teeming with strange birds and beasts. As he writes ... "To me, this blue kingdom was a treasure house of strange beasts which I longed to collect and observe, and at first it was frustrating...