Description
Book SynopsisSimon Nye''s TV series, The Durrells, is based loosely on Gerald Durrell''s Corfu Trilogy and in particular his much-loved bestseller, My Family and Other Animals. These books in turn are based somewhat loosely on actual events. The real-life Durrells went to Corfu at the urging of Lawrence Durrell, who was already living on the island with his wife, Nancy Myers. Their intent was to keep the family together as his mother, Louisa, was drinking heavily and recovering from a breakdown; ''We can be proud of the way we brought her up'', Larry said, only half-jokingly, of the family''s subsequent Corfu sojourn.Michael Haag''s book covers the background to the Durrell family''s years in Corfu, including their time in India, where all the children were born, and where their father, a brilliant civil engineer, had died. It recalls the real-life characters the Durrells encountered on Corfu, notably the biologist and poet Theodore Stephanides, and the taxi driver, Spiros Halikiopoulos. And Haag t
