Fillets of Plaice - Softcover

Durrell, Gerald

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140043381 ISBN 13: 9780140043389

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1977

Synopsis

Durrell's hilarious and warm My Family and Other Animals (1957) began a trio of reminiscences of his life growing up with a slightly dotty family the overbearing and omniscient Larry; the affectionate and loving siblings, Margot and Leslie; and, of course, the overburdened and patient Mother on the island of Corfu in the 1930s, when a pound could buy a villa and life was conducted as a series of riotously high (and sometimes low) adventures. But what shines through these five vignettes is the author's engagement with and immense affection for animals in all their forms. From fish to fowl, from lizards to little water fleas (daphnia), Durrell's eye is acute and his prose is tart. You can read this book for the humor alone (for he did perceive his family as some rare and rarefied species), but between the lines you can discern the makings of a world-class naturalist and a cultivated and engaging writer.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

Fauna and Family, also known as The Garden of the Gods, is the third in Durrell's Corfu trilogy that begins with his beloved classic, My Family and Other Animals and continues with Birds, Beasts and Relatives. In his foreword to Fauna and Family, Durrell confessed that in the first two books, "I had left out a number of incidents and characters that I would have liked to have described, and I have attempted to repair this omission in this book . . . I hope that it might give the same pleasure to its readers as apparently its predecessors have done, as for me it portrays a very important part of my life . . . which is a truly happy and sunlit childhood."

Also available from Godine: Fillets of Plaice

About the Author

Gerald Durrell founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Durrell Wildlife Park on the isle of Jersey in 1959. But he is perhaps best remembered for the books based on his life as an animal collector and enthusiast and his immortal My Family and Other Animals trilogy.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1977
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140043381
• ISBN 13: 9780140043389
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 6
• Number of pages: 178