Gerald Durrell

by Douglas Botting

  Praise

  Further reviews for Gerald Durrell:

  ‘Douglas Botting is to be congratulated on Gerald Durrell. He has done a magnificent job in telling the complex story of a complex person, wrinkles and all. Here is your chance to rediscover the man who for over sixty years exasperated and fascinated his friends and fans, giving hope to generations that there was a future for animals, plants and people.’

  DAVID BELLAMY, Literary Review

  ‘The book serves up so much by way of compelling detail that the reader forges happily ahead … [an] affectionate account of a rumbustious figure.’

  PENELOPE LIVELY, Daily Telegraph

  ‘Douglas Botting’s biography of Gerald Durrell is a whacking great book … But then, the environmentalist, naturalist, humorist, bestselling author and adventurer was a whacking great personality. His riotous enjoyment of life and his passion-ate, loving struggle for animal conservation fly off the pages. It’s an absorbing, hugely appealing story.’

  New Scientist

  ‘Botting’s admiration and affection for his subject are infectious.’

  Sunday Times

  ‘An extraordinary story … a biographer’s dream.’

  EDWARD MARRIOTT, Evening Standard

  ‘Douglas Botting quotes continually from unpublished material – letters, journals, diaries – which prove to be a treasure-house of agile and acute observation … [He] is a perceptive, vigorous, unabashed chronicler … at his best in dealing with the complexities of Durrell’s own character and the crises in his life … This is the most enjoyable biography I have read for years.’

  J.B. PICK, Scotsman

  ‘A compelling read.’

  DAVID NICHOLSON-LORD, Financial Times

  ‘Botting gives us a full-on Durrell … a wonderfully detailed account.’

  RICHARD D NORTH, Independent

  ‘Exhaustive research … poignant reading.’

  CAROLINE MOOREHEAD, Spectator

  ‘Absorbing.’

  Tatler

  ‘Gerald Durrell was a man of immense character as this enormous biography testifies … and he shines out of these pages. Botting’s writing style is a delight. He has a wry eye and his own dry wit … He has told a powerful story.’

  JULIA LANGDON, The Herald (Glasgow)

  ‘Wonderfully affectionate account … wonderfully readable.’

  CHRISTINE BARKER, Birmingham Post

  ‘The best parts are the descriptions of furry animals – both Durrell’s and the author’s – which appear on page after page … the book is a love story of a sort.’

  ROY HATTERS LEY, Mail on Sunday

  ‘Joyful reading … Botting is on sure, captivating ground as he relates Durrell’s escapades … a valuable chronology of Durrell’s experiences.’

  ROSEMARY GORING, Scotland on Sunday

  ‘Douglas Botting paints a vivid picture … an excellent reflection of the man behind the magic’

  ISOBEL OSMONT, Jersey Evening News

  ‘This revealing and compulsive biography will inspire many generations to come.’

  JOHN BURTON, World Land Trust Review

  ‘Botting’s biography is vast, vibrant, intense.’

  MICK MIDDLES, Manchester Evening News

  ‘In this superb biography Douglas Botting keeps you turning the pages and even succeeds in conjuring tears at the end. Meticulous research has enabled him to bring us an in-depth picture of the man. It is a measure of its success that I seriously resented having to go to work, or to bed, whilst reading it.’

  HILARY PAIPETI, The Corfiot Magazine, Greece

  By the Same Author

  Other biographies by the same author

  Humboldt and the Cosmos

  Hitler’s Last General (with Ian Sayer)

  Gavin Maxwell: A Life

  Copyright

  William Collins

  An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

  77–85 Fulham Palace Road,

  Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

  www.harpercollins.co.uk

  First published in Great Britain by

  HarperCollinsPublishers in 1999

  Copyright © Douglas Boning 1999

  The Author asserts the moral right to

  be identified as the author of this work

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

  Source ISBN: 9780006387305

  Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2014 ISBN: 9780007381227

  Version 2013-12-18

  About the Publisher

  Australia

  HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

  Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

  Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

  Canada

  HarperCollins Canada

  2 Bloor Street East – 20th Floor

  Toronto, ON, M4W 1A8, Canada

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

  New Zealand

  HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited

  P.O. Box 1 Auckland,

  New Zealand

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz

  United Kingdom

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  77–85 Fulham Palace Road

  London, W6 8JB, UK

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

  United States

  HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

  10 East 53rd Street

  New York, NY 10022

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com