A classic Gerald Durrell title reissued by Penguin to celebrate the centenary of his birth.
The Manor of the title is Les Augrès Manor in Trinity, Jersey. Inside, we find a remarkable collection of pen portraits of some of the creatures of Gerald Durrell's Zoo. We also discover some of the timeless lessons Durrell learned about making real and sustaining his childhood ambition of having his own zoo – and why conservation matters more than ever.
Gerald Durrell (1925-1995) was one of England's best-loved authors and had a lifelong passion for animals of all kinds. Born in India, he was taken by his family to live in Corfu as a child, and immediately became fascinated by the island's natural history; these years are famously documented in My Family and Other Animals. In 1947 he began making expeditions to collect animals from around the world in order to protect endangered species. He founded the Jersey Wildlife Protection Trust to look after these animals, and the Trust is still run by his widow, Lee Durrell.
"This book is a certain joy"
– New Statesman
"Animals come close to being Durrell's best friends [...] He writes about them with style, verve, and humour"
– Time
"A renegade who was right [...] He was truly a man before his time"
– Sir David Attenborough
"You can't deny that there are some species that now exist because of him"
– Craig Bennett, Friends of the Earth
"Gerry, more than anybody else, got people to reconnect with animals emotionally [...] he just somehow makes the animals touch the inner core of the reader"
– Lee Durrell