The Durrells cover art

The Durrells

The Story of a Family

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

The Durrells

By: Richard Bradford
Narrated by: Mike Read
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £17.99

Buy Now for £17.99

Summary

 Bloomsbury presents The Durrells by Richard Bradford, read by Mike Read.

A variously tragic tale of escapism and assimilation, Richard Bradford's The Durrells explores the truth behind the image.

The Durrells are probably the most celebrated literary family of the 20th century. Gerald turned them into celebrities with his tripartite memoir, beginning with My Family and Other Animals (1956) which told of his experiences with his widowed mother Louisa and three siblings during their time in 1930s Corfu. We know of the Durrells from their own writings and from the image of them created by TV, film and biographical accounts of specific figures. What we do not know is the truth.

Using previously unpublished material from the Jersey Archive, Richard Bradford unravels the lives of the famous four children of the Corfu era – Larry, Gerry, Margo and Lesli – as they find themselves geographically and emotionally divided amongst a backdrop of imperial decline and unrest. The children of moneyed colonialists, they were already used to being treated with aghast fascination by the island’s locals, and by expatriate Britons as a disgrace to the homeland.

Yet their story goes beyond the Ionian Sea, and The Durrells delves into the complex social and political circumstances in which the family lived, with seemingly constant threats of war and endangerment to both themselves and their natural environment. Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Art & Literature Authors Journalists, Editors & Publishers
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Critic reviews

Bradford is a champion debunker of myth-makers
The Durrells is a valuable and necessary work. In demystifying the myth, Bradford invites us to think more deeply about the stories that families tell about themselves, and the fictions that become accepted fact.
Fans of the Durrells will beintrigued and aghast by this demystifying tell-all.
All stars
Most relevant
This book seems to have been written by an angry neighbour of the Durrells. Can’t think of any other reasons of this author to write this book than to make money on the back of Durrells series. It’s pure despise and clearly one sided.

So much anger and despise

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.