The Durrell family is immortalized in Gerald Durrell's work "My Family and Other Animals" and its television adaptation, "The Durrells." But what is the real story of the Durrells? Why did they go to Corfu, and what happened to them afterwards?

The true story of the Durrells is just as astonishing and captivating as anything in Gerry's books, and Michael Haag, with his direct knowledge of the family, is the perfect narrator, drawing from diaries, letters, and unpublished autobiographical extracts.

The book "The Durrells of Corfu" describes the family's upbringing in India and the crisis that led them to England and then to Greece. It recalls the genuine characters they met in Corfu - the biologist Theodore, the taxi driver Spiro Halikiopoulos, and the imprisoned Kosti - as well as the visit of the American writer Henry Miller. Haag has also uncovered the story of how the Durrells left Corfu, including Margo and Larry's last-minute escapes before the war. An extended epilogue examines the recognition of Larry as a globally renowned novelist and Gerry as a naturalist and defender of endangered species, as well as the lives of the remaining family members and their friends.

The book is illustrated with family photographs from the Gerald Durrell Archive, many of which are reproduced here for the first time.